To live a life
by MGO
Summary: This is Ginny's story, set right after the battle at Hogwarts. Read how her love for Harry grows, how she shows him to live, how the Weasley's, Hermione and Harry live their lives through Ginny's eyes...  rating has changed due to the upcoming lemons
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Harry Potter fanfic...I hope you all like it...**

_ This is totally Ginny telling you her story, it starts of the day after the battle. I know some of you might find her story cheesy but this is how I dreamed their lives to continue. Please review._

** All charaters and storylines belong to J.K. Rowling.**

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I woke up with the first light. It took me a while to remember why I was feeling so terrible. As I opened my eyes everything came back to me. I was laying in the four poster bed that had been mine for seven years now, only the last few months I hadn't slept in it. But the sight of this bed brought back the last twenty four hours. The fight, the death eaters, Harry death at the feet of Voldemort. I shiver at the memory, I thought my world had ended. In a short moment of distraction Neville had provided Harry had disappeared, and I could breath again, knowing he was ok, somewhere under his cloak.

The fight had been far from over but with the knowledge Harry still lived everybody felt a new power to win. I could perform the strongest magic I ever had. Even my mom was able to kill that foul Bellatrix woman. It should have been the most happiest moment of our lives when Harry finally defeated Voldemort, or Tom as he had called him, but it wasn't. To many lives had been lost in the last fight.

Tonks, Remus, my own brother Fred and so many more I had cared for. As I sat up I stared out the window, tears streaming down my face. The feeling of loss was overwhelming. I knew the next few weeks were going to be hard, that I needed to be strong, not only for my mother but also for Harry. He would need time to work through this all, I didn't know what he went through the last year but it must have been hard.

He needed someone to be there for him, and I was going to be that one. I had seen it in his eyes when our eyes met after the fight, the fire that I had seen so many times before was still there. Also was the pain.

Yes the up coming few weeks, maybe months were going to be though.

Pushing back the tears, fighting to find the strength in myself to be the strong one, I raised from my bed. To my surprise I was that a trunk with my cloths saw standing at the end of the bed. There was a note attached to it.

_Dear miss,_

_Master Harry ordered me to get some cloths for the Weasleys._

_I hope I selected what you want to wear._

_Kreacher._

New tears were running down my face. Even he had to be in such an emotional turmoil he always thought of us first. Always caring, making sure we were alright.

"Ginny? What is wrong?" Hermione asked with a sleepy voice. I must have woken her with my crying.

"Here." I said as I handed her the note. While she read it I brushed away the tears.

"That's very attentive of Harry." Hermione muttered.

"Yes, you would have thought he has other things to deal with."

"Ginny, you should know, Harry has always had you and your family in his mind the last year. Worrying about you, I even saw him checking the map to see if you were safely at school. He never stopped loving you." Hermione said, misinterpreting my words.

"I know," I sighed, "I just meant that he has been through a lot, he should think of himself now."

Hermione laughed, "Ginny, Harry never thinks of himself first, mostly it's you he thinks of first, and the rest of your family."

I smiled at her, but failed. The tears were still to close to the brim. Hermione put her arm around me.

"Come, lets take a shower and see if the boys are ready to wake up." She said.

I nodded and opened the trunk, Kreacher had packed a lot of clothes, probably not knowing what I wanted to wear he decided to get as much as he could find. Making a mental note to thank Kreacher later, I grabbed the first things and followed Hermione to the bathroom.

The bathrooms at Hogwarts were always so beautiful, decorated to perfection. I took a deep breath and let it sink in that for the first time in a very long time I was really back here, and that I could now really relax while taking a bath. I took in every beautiful detail of this room, the painted windows, the coloring on the ceiling, the smell of the soap, everything.

Hermione was standing in the shower cubicle next to me, she had her eyes closed as the warm water ran down her face.

"Ah, that feels good." He whispered.

"How did you keep clean al those months?" I asked her. I wanted to know everything that had happened to them but I had the feeling Hermione wasn't able to tell it now.

"Well we spend some time at Grimalds place, and then I had a tent borrowed from your dad which had a shower, that was nice, but I haven't had a shower since we broke in to Gringotts." She answered subdued.

"So you three really broke into Gringotts?"

Hermione broke out in laughter again.

"Yes…, we had to find one of the pieces that was needed to destroy him." She said, "We had help though, but I'm sure Harry will tell you everything, I bet he is planning on explaining everything to you and your family soon. There are some things that need the whole story to explain and now I don't have enough time."

She turned of the shower and grabbed a towel. I followed suit. As Hermione was dressing herself I saw a scar on her upper body, that hadn't been there before, I was shocked but decided not to ask. Silently I wondered how many more scars Harry had gained during his travels.

We got dressed quickly and walked down to the common room, to our surprise Harry and Rob were all ready waiting for us. They were sitting in front of the fire place staring silently into nothing, as they heard us approach they both got up. It must have been the most awkward sight ever between Ron and Hermione. Or rather Ron was feeling awkward, always so shy, his ears were turning red and I had the feeling to look away.

"Don't be stupid, Ron." Hermione bristled, she took his hand and kissed him softly on the cheek. Which made him even more red.

I caught Harry's eye, but instead of breaking out in laughter over the stupidity of Ron, he smiled softly at me. It wasn't just a smile, but something that made my legs feel like jelly. Again I came to the same conclusion as I had after I woke up, Harry still loved me, and knowing that made me feel strong enough to face the world, or to begin with, my mother.

Harry held out his hand, and I grabbed it strongly, hoping to never have to let go again.

"Lets get some breakfast." Harry said.

As we walked through the castle it was clear that there had been a lot of destruction. The fight had taken his toll on the castle. I didn't what I had expected but not this. Maybe deep down I had hoped the castle would have healed itself over night, but it still seemed to be in shock, even most of the pictures were empty. I could see it in Harry's face that it hurted him to see the castle in this state. I squeezed his hand softly, he looked down at me and smiled a bit.

We entered the great hall slowly, I could feel Harry's reluctance to be out in public, but he squared his shoulders and walked in. There was only a small group of people sitting at the end of what used to be the Ravenclaw table. My own family, Kingsley, and some of the teachers. They all smiled at Harry as he sat down next to my father. As soon as we sat down, plates appeared, that reminded me of something.

"Harry, thank you for asking Kreacher to get some clothes for us. That was very thoughtful." I told him.

"Yes Harry, thanks for that." My father injected.

"It's nothing, I needed stuff as well, and I remember you all didn't have clean things with you, so I thought Kreacher could get that as well."

"Well, he did a good job." I said.

"You should tell him yourself later," Harry said with a smile, "it would make his day."

"I will." I promised as I placed some food on my plate.

We ate in silence for a while. I looked up and down the table. My mother had still tears running down her face and wasn't eating very much. Professor McGonagall was talking to her, trying to comfort her. George just stared in front of him, not eating at all. It would take a lot of time for him to get his spirit back. My father and Percy were sitting next to each other like old times. I only then noticed my other two brothers missing.

"Dad? Where are Bill, Charlie and Fleur?"

"Oh, they are busy, Bill and Charlie are outside working to restore the entrance of the castle with Professor Flitwick, and Fleur is helping madam Pomfrey attending the wounded." He answered casual.

The door of the hall opened again and Neville and Luna walked in. Neville was limping a bit, supported by Luna. I was happy to see my friends in fairly good conditions.

"Are you ok, Neville?" Harry asked as Neville sat down next to me.

"Yes, I'm fine, just a bit sore from yesterday, madam Pomfrey says it should feel normal soon." Neville looked around searching for somebody, "Hey do you know where my grandma is?"

Harry and I shook our heads, I hadn't seen her since last night.

"She is with Tonk's mother, taking care of Teddy." My mother said through the tears.

I could see Harry's face draining of all the color it had. The reminder of Tonks and Remus's death hit him hard, but I could guess that being remembered of his godson was hurting equally as hard. I realized very quickly why, poor Teddy was now missing both his parents, not even two months old and he was now almost alone, and Harry realized it to, I bet he could see himself in that.

"We have to do something about that." He whispered to me.

"What?"

"I can't let Teddy grow up without knowing his parents." He said sadly.

"What did you have in mind?" Hermione asked following our conversation.

"I don't know, all I know is that I'm going to be there for him." Harry's face turned determined.

I squeezed his hand again, "I know, I'll help you if you want to."

"Thanks Ginny."

After we finished breakfast we all looked at each other, trying to find out what to do next. Over the past hour the hall had filled with people to eat breakfast, most people we smiled at or talked to, many of them came to talk to Harry for a few seconds. Most of them, because in a quiet corner the Malfoy's ate their breakfast silently. No one had acknowledged them, except for Harry. When Misses Malfoy walked in Harry gave her a nod and a soft smile. That was something he had to explain to me some day. I couldn't understand how he was able to forgive her so quickly.

As Kingsley and professor McGonagall raised from there seats, Harry looked up at them.

"Kingsley, wait, I would like to talk to you and professor McGonagall." Harry called after him.

"I'll be back in a hour." He whispered to me and raced off after them.

"What's that about?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." I answered.


	2. Uncomplete Story

_**Authors note: **I know some of you will think I'm writing very chaotic. that Harry's story is very chaotic. but bare with my on this, in my eyes Harry coulnd't at that point tell the whole story completely. it was to painful and to unclear for himself at that point._ Over the whole story Harry will explain more and more things.

_Please, please, please Review... let me know what you think._

**All characters and storylines belong to J.**

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**2. Uncomplete story.**

As nobody seemed to know what to do, the five of us decided to go and help Bill and Charlie with fixing the castle. We found them outside talking to Hagrid about what was the best way to get the broken windows back in place.

"Hey." Bill said as we walked towards them, "What are you all up to?"

"We wanted to see if you all could use some help." Hermione said.

"That would be very welcome. We were trying to get the Castle weather prove again. We have the doors back in place, thanks to Hagrid and Grawp, but we still have to do the windows. Could you all do the left side then we take the right." Bill said, trying to be cheerful.

It was nice to be working outside, it was sunny and warm. Even the weather was celebrating. We still couldn't, seeing the outside of the castle, so broken, in daylight was painful. We all had come to love the castle as our home away from home, we had lived here for almost seven years and now it was bleeding. I looked at Hermione, she was working so fast, she also had tears in her eyes. I could imagine her working at top speed so she wouldn't have to see this much longer.

We were all so concentrated, working so hard to give the castle back his old glory that we hadn't heard the footsteps behind us. Softly a hand rested on my shoulder. I gasped, frightened until I heard his voice.

"Why are you crying?" Harry asked softly.

"Just being stupid," I laughed shakily, "It hurts to see the castle like this."

Harry took a step back and looked at the castle.

"Yes, but it won't be long until it's back to normal, specially with you all working so hard." He smiled!!

Harry actually smiled as he said those words! I didn't know what had happened the last hour but it had changed him. He looked more serene and happy than I have ever seen him. He turned so he could see everybody.

"Could you all come with me, please? I… I have some explanation to give and I want you all to hear it." He said.

We all nodded and followed him. At the door Harry turned.

"You too, Hagrid." He called.

Harry took my hand and lead us to McGonagall's office. Inside the whole family was waiting, together with some teachers, Kingsley, Neville's grandmother, and Tonks's mother. Hovering in the corner was Kreacher, I couldn't understand why he was here, why Harry wanted him here but we would find out soon enough.

As everybody sat down Harry walked up to sit in McGonagall's chair. It was a bit weird to see him there, in that chair but Harry didn't even blush.

"I need to give you all some explanations. If we are to find closure after all this you need to know the whole story." He started with a deep sigh.

"And the story starts more then fifty years ago with the love of a witch for a muggle. You see back then a girl who was one of the last living heirs of Slytherin fell in love with Tom Riddle, a muggle. She was so in love that she made a love potion for him and fled together with her love. At some point she got pregnant, hoping her love would stay with her for the sake of the baby she stopped giving him the potion. Of course he fled as soon as he could and the girl was left behind." Harry stared out the window for a second, giving us the chance to take it all in.

"From what we found out about her, at the end of the pregnancy she was alone, poor and in a bad shape. So bad that she sold her most prized possession, Slytherin's locket." Harry pulled a old looking locket out of a bag and lay it on the desk.

"The girl gave birth to a baby boy in a orphanage, and named him Tom Marvolo Riddle. She died shortly after that. Tom wasn't a very good kid in the orphanage, he used his powers to scare and hurt others. For his age his power developed very fast, by the time Professor Dumbledore invited him to come to Hogwarts most damaged was already done. Due to his behavior he had never experienced what love was and that had marked him."

Harry looked pained as he told this story, like he felt sorry for Voldemort. Knowing Harry that was exactly what he did.

"At school Tom was a very good student, charming, head boy, and favorite with most teachers. It was here he also found out about his heritage, he was obsessed with that. At first he searched for his father in our library, in his mind his mother could never had been a witch, why else would she have given in, into something so low as dying. After a short search he had to admit his mother was the magical one, and with that he found out that he was the last living heir of Slytherin." Harry sighed and looked at me.

"We all know it was him who opened the chamber of secrets, once framing Hagrid, and once through a diary."

I shuddered at the memory. My mother grabbed my hand as she was pulled back into that memory as well.

"Now, during and after his school years Tom continued to work on his sinister thoughts of what a wizard should be. You see before Tom left the school he had already become a murderer. He had killed his father, grandparents, and his uncle, all for the cause of one thing. To be immortal, to make horcruxes."

At this the older people in the room gasped, it looked like it was only me, Neville, Luna and Hagrid who were confused. Harry saw our confusion.

"You see Tom was obsessed with his ideas of immortality, a wizard in his eyes had no need to die. During his time at school he had search for ways to make himself immortal. Horcruxes are objects in which you place a part of your soul, even when your body is destroyed you still live on, or your soul lives on. Tom had murdered to spilt of parts of his soul so he could make the horcruxes. Murdering is the only way to do that. And that's what we have been doing for the last year, hunting down the horcruxes." Harry explained with a smile.

"You say horcruxes, do you mean there were more then one?" McGonagall asked horrified.

"Yes, seven in total." He answered simply.

"Harry, you must be wrong, we only destroyed six." Hermione said.

"No I'm right, let me explain, the first horcrux created was the diary, then the ring, the locket, the cup, the diadem, and the snake. The last horcrux Tom never knew he had made."

"Could you please explain further." Kingsley asked politely.

"The snake was his link to the prove he was Slytherins heir, he could speak with snakes, as well was the diary, the ring had belonged to his wizard grandfather, an onther link to Slytherin, and with that the locket as well, the cup he used had belonged to Huffelpuf, and the Diadem to Ravenclaw. You see Tom spend all his time tracking down things that had belonged to the four founders of this school, the place that was his true home."

I had the feeling Harry knew a lot more but he wasn't willing to share it. Perhaps it was to sensitive to tell all these people.

"The last year we have been searching for them, Dumbledore had given me a direction and with the help of Hermione, Ron and Kreacher I was able to find them."

"Kreacher?" My mother said shocked.

"Yes, Kreacher, this need some explaining too…, Sirius brother Regulus had joined the rank of the death eaters, and to service Voldemort he lent Kreacher to him, Kreacher came back in such a bad state that Regulus was shocked by the cruelty of Voldemort and he ordered Kreacher to tell everything that had happened, and so he found out about Voldemort making a horcrux. Regulus finally saw the madness in Voldemort. He ordered Kreacher to take him to the location of the horcrux so he could destroy it, he gave his life for it." Harry finished subdued.

In the corner Kreacher was crying. We all looked in awe at him.

"Kreacher come here." Harry ordered, it sounded sweet but I wasn't used to Harry ordering. Kreacher walked to Harry looking scared, maybe he was afraid Harry would punish him for crying. I knew Harry would never do that but I was still surprised by his actions. Harry lay his hand on Kreacher's shoulder and looked at him.

"Regulus had ordered Kreacher that, what ever happened, Kreacher was to take the locket and go home, never to speak of it again, and so Kreacher did. Pained by grief for the loss of his favorite master, Kreacher kept his secret until I asked." Harry smiled down at Kreacher and handed him a paper towel to dry his eyes.

"Due to unfortunate events the locket ended up at the ministry of magic. We caused a bit of a chaos there, but we had to retrieve it."

"That was you?" my father asked shocked.

"Yes, I'm sorry we didn't tell you but our cover had to be protected. In the chaos we apparated back to Grimmauld place, but someone caught one of us and was taken with us." Harry shook his head at the thought, then he looked down at Kreacher again.

"I'm sorry Kreacher, we had to leave immediately and we couldn't come back."

"I…I know master." Kreacher blubbered out.

"Then we decided to go camping. We needed time to figure out where the other horcruxes were and how to destroy the one we had. Now, I'm not going to tell every detail now, we would be here for an other twenty four hours. After a long camping trip we were caught, I stupidly used the taboo, we ended up at the Malfoy manor. We were very lucky that at that point Voldemort was abroad, but also very lucky to be there, because there we found out the location of the next horcrux, the Lestange's vault at Gringotts."

"That's why you three broke in there!" Neville asked excited.

"Yes."

"How did you escape the Malfoy manor?" my father asked, spotting the hole in the story.

"Dobby came to the rescue." Harry said with a pained face, "Luna and mister Olivander were there as well, prisoners. Ron and I were locked up in the same cell as them, but Hermione was kept upstairs. Being tortured for information, we needed an escape. Truly believing Dumbledore's words, 'Help will be offered to those who ask for it.' I cried out for help using a two way mirror, not knowing who had the other side, and Dobby came to the rescue, send by Aberfort who become the owner of the other mirror. Dobby took us to Bill and Fleur but died shortly afterward because Bellatrix threw a dagger at him, we just weren't quick enough." Harry said as he looked down, I saw a tear running down his cheek.

I wanted to comfort him, to get up and put my arms around him, but I couldn't, I was so shocked by the whole story that my body disobeyed every order I tried to give it. Harry looked up and smiled again.

"Fleur nurtured the wounded back to health, and took care of us for a while. Thank you for that fleur." Harry said as he looked at her.

"It wasss nothink." Fleur whispered.

"After a short stay there, we robbed Gringotts, and headed to Hogwarts. I knew, as I had known all along that one of the horcruxes was hidden here. We did find it, Ravenclaws diadem. Thanks to Hermione we knew how to destroy them, she had found the books we needed for that information, but it was thanks to Severus Snape we had the tool to destroy it. He made sure we got the sword that was drained in the basilisks venom, which did the job."

"Severus?" McGonagall hissed.

"Yes, probably the most misunderstood man in the world. He was at our side , just as Dumbledore told us."

"But he killed…?"

"Yes, he killed Dumbledore, just as Dumbledore asked him too."

"Asked him too." McGonagall had gone white at this point.

"Yes, Dumbledore knew he was dying, the curse that had hit him while destroying the horcrux in the ring was killing him. Voldemort had given Draco the order to kill Dumbledore or die trying, Snape and Dumbledore knew. Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him before Draco did, to protect Draco's soul. With the knowledge they had about the curse that was killing Dumbledore the knew that Snape's soul would be protected because he knew that he was saving an old man from a terrible painful death." Harry sighed again, "Snape had always been on our side, even though he hated me, hated the world actually, he was always loyal to one cause and that was to see Voldemort destroyed."

"Now you all saw Neville destroy the Snake, and that were the six horcruxes Hermione talked about."

"How do you know all this." Hermione asked.

"Snape's memory." Harry said as he raised a bottle with something white in it.

"How did you get it?" McGonagall asked.

"He gave it to me, Voldemort tried to kill him, just for fun I think, but when we found him he was barely alive. He needed to give me the memories he had so that I would understand why and how."

"You still haven't told us about the seventh horcrux." Ron injected when Harry paused.

Harry looked at him, thinking about his request. Something in his face told me he was reluctant to tell the story, but he sighed and continued.

"I'm not going into details on the subject, because, one it's too complicated to explain and second I really don't know how all the magic involved worked, even Dumbledore doesn't understand it exactly. What I can tell you is that I found out what it was thanks to Severus's memory, Dumbledore had told him."

Harry took a deep breath and continued, "The last horcrux was me."

Gasps of shock sounded around the room. My mouth had popped open in shock.

"When Voldemort killed my parents and turned his wand on me, he accidentally split of a piece of his soul which found it's place in me. That's the reason why I could speak with snakes, and the reason behind the strange connection between him and me. After finding that out I knew what I had to do in order to make sure he could be destroyed. I plucked up the courage and entered the forest, hoping that when this was all over one of you could kill him. On my way out I told Neville to kill the snake as soon as he got a chance, somebody had to know."

Harry paused again.

"I walked up to him, without defending myself, I let him have me. The whole reason that I'm not death now was that, I didn't defend myself, I was willing to die for you all, for all the people who were fighting for me, the people I loved. That invoked such a powerful magic that fired back at him again but destroyed the horcrux in me.

The other reason why I'm still here is because of Mrs. Malfoy. Voldemort and I were both out cold for a short time after his curse, to make sure I was death he let Mrs. Malfoy check me. She on the other hand had other worries, her son. Instead of telling him I still lived she asked if Draco was still in the castle, when I confirmed she lied to Voldemort, hoping that she could get to the castle as soon as possible."

"And well the rest you know." Harry finished with a sigh.

We all sat there silently for a long time lost in our own thoughts. Still filled with questions, but we all knew Harry wasn't going to give us more information at this point. I looked at him he looked drained, but when he met my eyes he smiled at me. There were so many questions I still wanted to ask him, not only about his story but also about his future, our future, about what he had done the last hour, because through all the painful things he told us he still looked calm and serene.


	3. The Castle

**_Ok, next chapter…. Please bare in mind that this is story of a sixteen year old girl in love, Ginny is telling her story of love and growing up…or now and the on coming chapters_**

_**I hope you love it…please send as many reviews as you can, they keep me motivated…**_

_All characters and storylines belong to J.K. Rowling_

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**3. The Castle**

After a long silence professor McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Harry has been speaking to professor Dumbledore for a while in the last hour. He asked me if he could visit the portrait whenever he needs advise, and I told him he would be welcome, you all will be welcome here. The school will be closed for now but next school year it will be open again. So you all will get a chance to get your NEWTS, if you want to. For now you are all very welcome to stay a bit longer, we could use your help with fixing the school and Kingsley tells me that most of the houses still need to be checked on booby traps."

"We would be happy to stay here for a bit longer, but there are some funerals to be arranged." My father said.

"Yes, Harry talked to us about that. He feels responsible for all those who have fallen during the fight. I told him that it wasn't necessary, but he insists on it. He wants all those, who have fallen here to stay here, if their family's agree, that is. He asked us to make a memorial grave, not only for those who have fought on our side but also for the fallen death eaters, to remind the children who are to come and study here, what happens if you make the wrong decisions." Kingsley informed us.

"Oh! Harry that's a brilliant idea." My mother cried and stood up to hug him.

"I wanted it here so it always will be protected against those who want evil." He said when my mother released him.

"That means we are to stay here for a while." Bill said.

"The funeral takes a bit of time to arrange, but it will be in two days time, I think." McGonagall said, "but if you want return home you of course are free to do so."

"Yes, Fleur and I need some time to calm down, but we will be here tomorrow, to help." Bill said squeezing my mothers shoulder softly. As he and Fleur walked out the room Harry called them back.

"Bill, Fleur, all I have told you, I have done because I know I can trust you, it would not do well if this story gets out this room. Please protect our secret."

"Of course we will." Bill said with a smile and walked out the room.

"Well I have to get back to the ministry, we have some work to do." Kingsley sighed, "Harry, when you ever have time please come to visit me, I have something I want to discus with you."

"I will."

"Well I don't want Fred's funeral here, with the castle in this state so we better get going." My mother said as she got up. The others agreed and followed her out. Harry, Kreacher and I were the last in the room. We sat there for a few seconds staring at each other.

"You didn't tell the whole story." I whispered.

"No, some secrets are best to kept silent, and other stories aren't mine to tell."

"Harry, I…" I started but couldn't finish. I stared down at my feet, I couldn't express my feelings, I just couldn't get the words out to tell him how much I missed him and how much I hoped we could continue those wonderful months we had over a year ago.

I heard a chair moving but I still couldn't look up. Then, a hand appeared in front of me, without hesitation I took it and Harry pulled me on my feet.

"Ginny, you don't have to say anything." He whispered while he took me in his arms, "I know…, I missed you too."

"You have changed." I noted. He was much more open, much more at ease with these kind of situations, more grown up in some way.

"Yes, a year like the last one does that to you, but it will be for the better." He said.

I finally looked up at him. He looked older, more mature, he looked even more beautiful.

I started to feel a different kind of love as I looked in his eyes. Before it was like a teenage crush what I had felt, I was totally besotted of him from the first day I met him, but that had just been a crush. I realized now that this last year had changed me as well. We both had grown up, and that created a different kind of feeling. I was sure Harry felt it too, this new feeling. As I looked in his eyes he leaned in closer, I took in a deep breath and kissed him.

I had kissed him, many times, before he went away and saved the world, but it was nothing compared to this. This was new, every feeling in my body was new. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. For a few moments enjoying to pure bliss of true love.

Harry chuckled as he broke off our kiss and rested his head against mine.

"I know the next weeks are going to be hard, and busy, but I want you there with me, Ginny. After the funeral we have nothing to do until the start of the next school year, I suggest we spend them together and with your family." Harry said.

"That sounds like a good plan." I sighed.

"Let's find the others and start working, I too, want the castle to look good in two days."

"Yes, but wait a second." I said breaking free of his arms. I turned around to look for Kreacher, he was still standing in the corner of the room.

"Kreacher?" I asked softly.

"Yes, miss." He answered.

"Thank you for getting my clothes, you did get the right ones." I smiled at him.

"Miss is too kind, I have to do what master orders."

"Yes, but it's nice to be taken care off, and you did a good job."

"Thank you so much, miss." Kreacher said with a smile. I wondered what had happened to the monster I use to know.

"Kreacher, The castle needs to be fixed as soon as possible, I guess the elves would like to help as well. Could you please tell them that their help is welcome, and if you want you can help here as well." Harry said to him.

"Yes master." And with a crack he was gone.

"Lets find the others." Harry said as he grabbed my hand.

We walked out of the office and headed for the entrance, we had a feeling the rest was still working outside, trying to fix the windows. All around us we saw elves cleaning away the debris. The bowed to us as we walked by.

"What happened to Kreacher, what happened to the monster we use to love?" I asked him.

"Exactly that, all he needed was a bit of love. An shoulder to cry on, to tell his own horrible story. After that he even tried to be nice to Hermione." Harry remembered with a smile.

We walked out the door and into the sunshine. As we expected everybody was working outside.

"Oh, Ginny, Harry, I was wondering where you two were." My mother said as she walked up towards us.

"We had some things to discus." I said to her. My mom worried way to much, it started to get annoying. Someday soon she would have to see that I was almost of age and that the whole mothering business had to be over. I didn't want to bring it up now, she was going through a lot already, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Oh. Oh well, are you two going to help us or not?" she asked sternly.

"Mrs. Weasley, I just asked hundreds of elves to help us." Harry said indicating to the door, were elves were busy fixing and cleaning the floor.

"Oh, that's very nice of you."

"Don't worry Mrs. Weasley, we will get the castle ready soon enough." Harry said and dragged me away from my mothers prying eyes.

We ended up at the other end of the castle, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and George were working there. We were just in time to see the Malfoys been taken away by a group of aurors. I saw Harry making eye contact with Mrs. Malfoy, again he nodded at her, I understood now why, what I didn't get was why she smiled at him. And I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Why is she smiling at you? That she even have the nerve to look at you." Hermione hissed.

"I have spoken to them, you know, in the hour before I explained everything." Harry whispered.

"You what!?" Hermione shouted.

"Yes, the whole damn problem in this world is the lack of love for each other, so I told them I would forgive them, not Lucius but Draco and his mom. I want Draco to have a home to go to. His father will be arrested, he has to do a few years in Azkaban, his mother will also have to bare it all in front of the Wizengamot, but I'll be there pleading for her case. I don't like Draco and I never will, but after seeing him, being so small and helpless during that fire I feel sorry for him. Also, he needs to be loved and his mom is the only one who can do that, so it would do no good to have her locked away too."

We were all silenced for a few second. I looked at him, knowing my face showed awe and confusion.

"What else have you done, that we might want to know about in that hour?" Hermione asked impatiently.

"hahaha, not much." Harry laughed and then sobered.

"I went for a talk with Dumbledore, about what to do next, where to start with my life now. I know the next year or so, I'll have wizards, witches and reporters following me closely, I needed to know how to deal with that, and Dumbledore seemed the right man to ask. Besides that, I asked him how I ever can learn deal with the guilt, with the pain people have suffered for me. All he said was to follow my heart." Harry shook his head.

"He did give me some good advise on the other subject, very helpful. After that I went to the hall and found the Malfoys still sitting there, so I knew someday I had to talk to them, so I did that first. After that I searched the castle for Teddy, of course I found him with Andromeda and Neville's grandmother. I'm his godfather and I want to be there for him, so I talked his future with Andromeda."

"What did you decide?" I asked, knowing that at some point in the future I would be involved as well.

"Well for now, Andromeda takes care of him, she takes great comfort in it, and she knows how to deal with his mood, face and hair changes. But once he is old enough he'll be spending a lot of time with me. When I have a house and my life settled down a bit, Teddy will be visiting as much as he wants. I'll also be taking care of him financially. That's the least I can do."

We all agreed and then Ron started laughing.

"You first have to see if you are ever allowed access to Gringotts again." He chuckled.

"Yes I have thought of that as well, Kingsley is going to talk to them, so we three could get or continue our accounts there."

"That's very nice of you Harry." Hermione said.

Harry smiled at her, and then looked at the castle.

"Let's do this." He nodded toward the massive structure.

We worked the whole afternoon, mostly in silence, sometimes Harry told us things he hadn't thought off during his explanation, Ron and Hermione told bits of their story. Luna and Neville told Harry, Ron and Hermione about the last year at school.

A big surprise came when Luna's father showed up. We had heard that his house was destroyed when death eaters were there, but nobody knew what had happened, by the look on Hermione's face, she knew exactly what had happened. After his house was destroyed Luna's father had disappeared. It had been a subject nobody wanted to talk about with Luna, afraid that he too was killed. So him showing up in fairly good health was a surprise but Luna was so happy that for the first time ever I saw her cry. He also decided to stay and help and joined my father in fixing the stairs leading into the castle.

With the falling night we finished the last window on our side. Relieved and feeling satisfied we walked back into the castle, to our surprise a lot was already done. The elves had cleaned away most of the debris, and a lot of paintings were back in place or straightened, and their subjects were back in it, waving at us as we walked past them. When we walked into the great hall most people now living in the castle were already eating. We silently sat down next to my family, too tired to talk or concentrating on other conversations. It was only when the plates off food appeared that I realized how hungry I was.

"I'm so hungry." Hermione said, thinking my thoughts.

"Yes me too." Ron muttered with his mouth full. Hermione looked disgusted.

I looked down at my plate and smiled, that relation would be fun to watch.

At the thought of the word, fun, I looked at George, all day he hadn't said a word. Now again he was staring in front of him, not touching his food. I knew he was dealing with the loss of his twin, his partner in crime, I was worrying if he would ever get his spirit back. I wondered if the was anything I could do to make this easier for him, but I came up short. I hoped that all he needed was time.

After dinner we told the rest of the family goodnight and headed for the common room. George followed us but instead of coming with us to the common room he walked out into the grounds. I nudged Harry and nodded towards George.

"Give him some time." Harry whispered, "He must be feeling so lost now, he needs time to recover from this."

"I know, but I'm worried, he hasn't eaten anything today." I told him.

"Just let him be for now. Your mother will be watching him close enough."

I nodded and walked ahead. Once in the common room Harry sank in the large chair in front of the fire. He looked so tired and depressed, I wanted to take a shower and sleep very, very long, but I couldn't leave him, afraid that he would drown in his guilt.

"Are you alright?" I asked him taking his hand in mine.

"Yes. Why?"

"You look so tired."

"So do you." He countered.

"Yes I am. I'm going to take a shower and sleep as long as possible." Still looking at him with concern.

"It's ok, Ginny, go and get some sleep." He said, noticing my concern. Harry got up and kissed me goodnight.

After a quick shower, I rolled up in my blankets waiting to for sleep to come. I didn't sleep well, the high I experienced after the battle was wearing off. The incredible happy feeling I had felt when I knew Harry had survived was beginning to fade, it had been my protection against all the bad, and frightening memories. But this night I dreamed about everything I wanted to forget. The nightmares plagued me all night, they woke me up. When I finally had enough of the dreams I decided to get out of bed.

A walk in the grounds would do me good.


	4. Demons

_****_

I'm sorry it took so long to update, I have been on a easter holiday and I had no access to my computer.

**_A short note before reading the chapter, _**_I have the feeling some of you are going to think Harry in this story is a bit soft and maybe a bit to passionate. but to me Harry always seemed to be passionate in love with Ginny, in the HBP book we see only a flicker of Harry's love for Ginny, JK isn't describbing the intimate moments. Well in this chapter you will see a small bit of how I think (dream) Harry and Ginny's love shows and how they are when they are together._

_**All characters and storylines belongs to JK Rowling.**_

**4. Demons.**

I grabbed my clothes and my wand and walked out. It was still dark outside but signs of first light were starting to color the sky. I started to walk around the lake, it was silent and very peaceful. It was hard to imagine that not so long ago it was a scene of horror and death. Here I could face all my demons in silence. I let my tears flow freely, here I wasn't scared that somebody would notice.

With every step I took I faced my demons, one demon at the time. Seeing Harry death was one of the worst and it was stupid, Harry was alive and loved me. So I shoved that one away. Next demon, I demanded my brains. Every time I faced one, I cried and then let it go. Knowing that one day it would resurface again, but then I would be stronger and able to face it again without the tears.

I was half way around the lake when my brain came up with the sight of my death brother. It was so painful that my legs gave away. I had loved Fred as a true brother, he had cared for me and protected me for so many years.

I sat down against a tree and cried my heart out.

Suddenly I noticed the sound of footsteps, close by. Shocked and scared I raised my wand.

"Ginny?" George stuttered as he stumbled through the bushes.

"George?" My voice an octave higher because of the shock. I lowered my wand slowly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same." George countered as he sat down next to me.

"I… I needed some time alone." I said pushing away the tears.

"Me too." George nod, tears flowing down his face.

I wrapped my arm around George, or at least as far as they would go. We sat there silently for as long as it took the sun to shine over the horizon. The sight was beautiful. With tears running down his face George looked at me.

"You know, when Voldemort came back four years ago, Fred and I promised each other that what ever happened we would be fighting against him, and that should one of us fall the other would continue to battle for two. When the war would be over the other would live for the both of us. But I can't see how, Ginny." George cried.

After a few seconds he continued.

"I feel so empty with out him, I don't even know where to start living."

"If you have promised him, you should at least try." I whispered.

"How?"

"Well, you two have done nothing in you life without a healthy doses of humor and pranks. You could start with running the joke shop again, I'm sure Fred didn't want his dream to be lost."

George smiled at that, and stared over the lake for a few minutes. You could see his face change slowly. From empty and sad, to something that showed the true George. The pain was still there, but the emptiness was gone from his eyes.

"You're right, I should continue our work. What would Fred be saying if he was us like this?"

I had to laugh at that, I could imagine Fred cursing and yelling at us. We sat there for an other couple of minutes. This small conversation had done me good. George was right, if Fred saw us crying over him, while he died doing what he believed him he would kick our but.

"Let's get back to the castle, mom will go crazy if she thinks we're missing." George said as he got up.

"Yes." I sighed.

We walked the shortest way back to the castle. Talking and joking a bit along the way. As always the jokes were about Ron. Like me, George had noticed the blossoming relationship between Hermione and Ron, and he also thought of that to be something fun to watch.

"What about you and Harry?" he suddenly asked.

"What about it?" I countered wary.

"Ow, come on Ginny, I may have had my head in an other place but I'm not blind. Looks like Harry couldn't wait to get his hands on you. At least that hasn't changed in the last year."

"George! I would like to have some privacy, thank you very much. And some things did change over the last year, and you and mom are just going to have to deal with it."

"Wow, my little sister is growing up quickly." George joked.

I didn't say anything, it was good to see him joking and laughing again. It would take us a long time to heal the wounds of Fred's death but a start was made. As we reached the castle we paused and watched. The upper layers still needed a lot of work done but the bottom half looked in perfect condition.

"Let's eat something and start working. If Fred has to have a grand funeral tomorrow he would want to castle to look perfectly ready for some pranks." George said with a smile.

I smiled at that, knowing George, he was already thinking about the jokes he could start on once the castle was ready. We walked into the great hall, the whole family was sitting at one of the house table's looking nervously at the door.

"Oh my goodness! Ginny, George, I was worried about you two. Where have you been, I've been searching every room in this castle." My mom sputtered angry.

"Well not in the castle then." George said, receiving a smack on his arm from my mother.

"We went for a walk around the lake, mom. Some people need some time alone to deal with things." I snapped at her, already irritated with her protective behavior.

I sat down next to Harry, not looking at my mom. I knew she was angry with me for snapping at her, but the reminder of dealing with Fred's death kept her silent. Harry grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed it softly. I looked up at him and smiled to show him everything was ok.

"What happened to George, he is eating and laughing?" Hermione whispered to me as she looked at George.

"Nothing." I shrugged, "He just needed some words of encouragement."

"What did you tell him." Harry asked.

"Not much, we came to the conclusion that if Fred would be able to see us now, like a bunch of cry babies, he would kick our butt. He would be very angry."

Harry, Ron and Hermione laughed at that, they too could imagine Fred being angry with us.

"Yes, your probably right." Harry agreed. He looked at George and studied his face for a while.

"I have seen that face before." Harry muttered.

"Don't be surprised if the castle is wearing the colors of the rainbow tomorrow." I laughed.

We finished breakfast quickly so we could get started on the inside of the castle. The adults would take the outside because most that had to be done was at great heights and for some annoying reason my mom didn't want us involved in that.

We decided each should take a direction and work on everything we came across. Neville, Luna and George disappeared in different directions, but Ron followed Hermione in the same direction. I stared after them, smiling as I saw Ron's ears turning red again. I'd bet he could feel our eyes on his back.

I turned to Harry, I wasn't willing to let him out off my sight yet, I had so many questions I wanted to ask that a summer together wouldn't be enough, and besides that I hadn't seen him in a year. Surely he wasn't expecting me to let him go that easy again.

"Let's head in the direction of the Gryffindor tower, I was a lot of things that need to be repaired on my way down this morning." Harry said as he nudged me softly in the right direction. I let out a sigh of relieve when I knew he expected me to go with him.

For at least an hour we worked in silence, sometimes just touching each other just to confirm the other was really there. It was relaxing, just to work in silence. Sometimes elves were with us, cleaning up after we were done. It was nice to work like this.

"Ginny?" Harry suddenly broke the comfortable silence.

"Yes."

"When you were here, with the Carrows, did they…did they hurt you?" He asked a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh!" I said surprised, not expecting this question, "No, not really, they got Neville good, but Professor Snape was there always in time to stop it before it got out of hand. They only got me once."

"Snape protected you?" He asked surprised.

"Yes, I guess so. I never thought of it that way, but after what you told about him it kind of fits."

He nodded and smiled a bit.

"Harry? What about you? I saw Hermione got some new scars." I whispered, not wanting to pry.

"Oh, yes you could say I got a couple of scars extra this year." He smiled, "Occupational hazard if your name is Harry Potter and you are foolish enough to walk straight into an ambush."

"What!"

"It was just stupid, I should have expected it, but I didn't. I wanted to visit Godric's Hollow, hoping to find something there, I didn't know what to expect there, but we had hit a dead end and I hoped that there would be some answer in Godric's Hollow. All we found there was Nagini, Voldemort's snake, waiting for us. Hermione saved us, but I got couple of scars extra's." He explained.

I had my jaw on the floor with surprise, my eyes wide with shock. He smiled at me and hugged me closely.

"Don't worry about it, Hermione's healing skill's are outstanding." He comforted me.

"Why didn't you contact me through out the year, specially when you were staying at Bill's place." I accused him. I wanted to ask so many questions but this was the one that had been laying on my tongue for a very long time now. I just needed to know.

"simply." He shrugged, "It would have been to dangerous for you and your family if somebody found out the you knew where we were. I'm surprised that even Remus never told you. I'd bet your dad knew, but I didn't want to risk contacting you myself."

"No Remus never told me. I always paid close attention to rumors, hoping to confirm you were still alright. We knew that if they'd killed you it would be announced right away, so that was the only hope we had. No news was good news." I closed my eyes and shook my head at the memories, "Can you believe I was more worried about you, than about my brother and my best friend."

Harry hugged me even closer, the tears in my voice betrayed my weakness. I pressed my face in his chest hiding the tears that were now flowing again. I never realized how much pain I had been in over the last year, now all the feelings overwhelmed me.

"Shhh, Ginny, it's ok." Harry whispered as I tried to collect myself. It took me a few minutes before I could keep the tears in and look at him.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, and I was. Normally I would be the strong one, hadn't I promised myself to be strong for him just a day ago. Angry with myself I wiped the tears away.

"Better?" He asked.

I nodded. With one finger he lifted my face up so he could look at me.

"Ginny, I'm not going to promise you that I'll be at your side twenty-four hours a day, but I'm going to promise you that I'm going to try to be there as many hours as I can."

"That would have to do then." I smiled at him and reached up to kiss him.

After a minute or so I stepped back, feeling a lot happier.

"Shall we finish this hall before lunch?" I suggested.

"That's a good idea, don't want you mom splitting us up just because we got distracted." He smiled.

The destruction done to the castle was great, but as the morning passed a lot of people came to help, Bill and Fleur showed up, some of the students from our years showed up, students who already left the school, by the time we headed downstairs for lunch the school was buzzing with people.

It took us a while before we got to the great hall, everybody seemed to want to talk to Harry or just shake his hand. Harry looked very uncomfortable with all the attention but he seemed to resign to the fact that this was his life for now.

The great hall was quiet, McGonagall, my father and mother, Kingsley and Andromeda sat at the end of the staff table which had been restored. They were discussing something and judging by the tears running down my mothers face it was the funeral. Ron and Hermione were already eating lunch, and Luna and Neville followed us into the great hall.

"With this much help we will be ready before dinner." Hermione said happily as we sat down.

"Yes, it took us very long to get down here. And most of the corridors are looking perfect." Harry agreed.

"Have you seen George?" Bill asked as he and Fleur sat down next to Harry.

"No, not after breakfast." I said.

"Hmm… I wonder what he is up to." Bill said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean." I asked surprised.

"Well we saw him outside, walking along the edge of the forest. He looked like he was up to something."

"Well as Ginny said this morning, don't be surprised if the castle is wearing all colors of the rainbow tomorrow." Harry quoted me. We all broke out in laughter. Suddenly a owl landed in front of Bill, carrying the daily prophet.

"Oh, this should be the first after the fight." Bill commented. He paid the owl and opened the paper. We all leaned in to see what it would say.

Of course there was almost a live sized picture of Harry on the front. It was an old picture, taken a few years ago. A huge banner was stamped above it.

'The Boy Who Saved Us.' It said. Harry looked at it and roared with laughter. We all looked at him shocked and surprised.

"I hope they continue to use that picture, at least no one who doesn't know me will recognize me if they saw me now." He said.

I still didn't understood him, I looked again at the picture. Yes, the Harry in the picture looked a lot younger, his hair was a bit more well behaved, and his scar on his head was clearly showing, but it wasn't that much different than what he looked like now. During our distraction Harry had run his hand through his hair, when I looked up at him again it was styled the same way as in the picture. I gasped in shock, blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

"Have nobody noticed it?" He asked with a mocking smile.

"Harry, your scar……" I whispered.

"It's gone…" Hermione gasped.

Everybody looked at him in surprise. His scar was indeed gone, the lightning bolt that use to mark his forehead was gone. How come I hadn't noticed that before.

"When did that happen?" Ron asked.

"I think when Voldemort tried to kill me the second time. I asked Dumbledore about it, he thinks it's gone, because of instead it being a mark left by the curse it was the mark of the horcrux, and with that gone the scar disappeared at well."

Nobody pressed for more information, most if us knew that if Harry wanted to share something with us he would do it, soon or later.

Shortly, I wondered how much time Harry had already spend in front of Dumbledore's picture. At least more than the one time he told us about, he couldn't discus all he told us in a single hour. As Harry turned his attention back to the paper I looked closer at him. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept at all last night, and then it downed on me, he hadn't slept last night. After we all had gone to bed he had secretly visited the painting.

I didn't say anything about it because it was something private, but I planned on asking him about it when we were alone again. He had to know he could tell me everything.

That didn't happen until after dinner.

Like Hermione predicted the castle was restored in it full glory a hour before dinner. The great hall was filled with all the people who had work so hard that afternoon. The elves were showing off, the food they made was the best I ever had in this castle, and that was saying something. Slowly people started to go home, promising to be back tomorrow for the funeral service.

Again the last sitting on our table were George, who had shown up half way through dinner, Neville, Luna, Hermione, Ron, Harry and me.

"What do you think we are going to do after tomorrow?" Ron asked.

"I have to get back to the store, but I'm not really looking forward to do all the work alone." George said sadly.

"I heard Kingsley tell your dad that the Burrow was cleared this afternoon." Hermione said, "So I think you will go home tomorrow evening."

"You'll be coming too?" Ron said surprised.

"Thanks Ron, that would be helpful, seeing I'm homeless now." Hermione said sadly as she looked at her plate. I knew she was thinking about her parents.

"You are welcome in my house." Harry offered Hermione, "If you don't mind living with Sirius's screaming mother."

Ron and I looked shocked.

"Hadn't you just promised me something this morning." I asked a bit sharp.

"Don't worry Ginny, I'll be at the Burrow as well." He smiled, "it's just… I just remembered I have a house that I don't use, so if Hermione want to, she can use it."

"That's very nice of you, Harry." Hermione said, "But where are you going to live after the summer, or are you planning to stay at the Burrow forever?"

"Do you mind, that's something I don't want to think about just now. I just want to spend a care free summer for once, after that we'll see." Harry said as he raised from the bench.

"Shall we get back to the common room?" Harry asked.

We agreed and followed him up the stairs. I was really tired from waking up so early and work so hard all day but I wanted to talk to Harry about the portrait thing, so I sat on the sofa next to him. As the others said goodnight I noticed George missing again, I wondered how much sleep he got the last two nights and how much he was going to get tonight.

I shifted a bit so I could lay my head on Harry's chest, he softly wrapped his arms around me. I took my time to enjoy the moment. The peaceful feeling, the silence and the joy of having Harry back with me. I had always dreamed of something like this, but I never expected it to be even better than what I had imagined.

"Was there something you wanted to talk about, Ginny." Harry whispered.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well you look really tired, I expected you to go to bed immediately. You look like you are to fall asleep as soon as you close your eyes."

"So do you." I countered, with a nod that told him that I knew how much sleep he was getting..

"You've noticed?" Harry asked surprised.

"Of course, what kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't notice my man isn't getting any sleep."

Harry closed his eyes and sighed, when he opened them tears were starting to form.

"It's just…" He started hesitant, "I feel so responsible for all the hurt. I feel like I should have worked faster last year, somehow……It's my fault that all those people died."

I wanted to protest but he placed his finger on my lips to stop me, and shook his head.

"Don't say it's not, everybody is telling me that. The guilt is something I need to deal with myself, whatever you say won't change how I feel about the things I have done the last year or so. When I try to sleep, I see everything again, the fight when your brother died, Remus and Tonks dead on the table, the memories Snape showed me, your face when you thought I was dead. It's not only that I feel guilty about the lives lost but also about the pain I inflicted on you, on your mother, on everybody who had to suffer." He closed his eyes again and tears rolled down his face.

"Harry, I'm not blaming you for leaving us behind, or that it hurt when you were gone. You were out saving the world, what is there to blame." I said as I straightened up. This way I could look at him better.

"Ginny, I should have been here. Protecting you all from those foul Carrows! I should have done something about Luna's father getting caught, I should have been there to save Luna from being locked up. I should have done things faster." He almost shouted. I didn't try to stop him, I gave him the chance to get it all off his chest. It took him a minute to calm down and then looked at me again. Those green eyes hidden behind thick tears.

"I should have been there for you, Ginny." He whispered and let his head fall against my shoulder. I stroke his hair and waited for him to calm down a bit more, also to make sure that my voice was steady when I spoke. It pained me a lot to see him like this.

"Harry, listen to yourself. You did protect us from the Carrow's, by making sure they were only here for a short time, by taking their master away from them, they are gone now. You did save Luna, remember, when you asked for help in the Malfoy mansion. You just saved our way of living. And most of all, you have always been there for me. Whenever I felt down, I remembered you were fighting for us out there, how else do you think I had the strength to face the Carrow's day after day, with our Dumbledore's Army attitude." I told him as I continued to stroke his hair.

He opened his eyes and looked at me. Suddenly he kissed me so fiercely that for a second it knocked me breathless, I could do nothing but answer it with the same intensity. The sensation I started to feel in the pit of my stomach was maddening, I wanted nothing more than for him to kiss me like this every second of every day. Way to early he broke off and looked in my eyes.

"Thank you, Ginny." He whispered with a hoarse voice that only intensified the feeling in my stomach.

"You're welcome." I said a little breathless.

Harry grabbed my hand and pulled my along side him on the sofa, so we could lay together on it.

"Why are you visiting Dumbledore's portrait at night?" I asked after a long comfortable silence.

"Because I still have so many questions. He makes me see things differently." He answered.

"What kind of questions?"

"Well…," he thought for a second, "I have noticed that my abilities and powers have changed since I faced Voldemort in the forest, it's like I can control them more, but they are stronger more powerful. When I tried to do some magic to fix one of the castle windows yesterday it was so powerful that it frightened me. I asked Dumbledore if he knew why my abilities feel so raw now and what to do about it."

"And what did he say." I whispered.

"He wasn't sure but he is thinking it's because of me being a horcrux. He thinks it somewhat limited me to access my full potential, and now that the horcrux is gone the magic in me is running freely."

"Oh." Was all I could say. I couldn't imagine Harry even more powerful. He had always seemed to me like a very powerful wizard. I knew they thought that my magic powers to be great and strong, specially my hexes, but it was nothing compared to what I had seen Harry do.

We lay on the sofa for a long time, just doing or saying nothing. I mauled things over in my head, swallowing away the million questions that popped up in my head. Harry finally seemed to relax a bit.

"Any better?" I asked.

"Yes and no, Yes because I believe you, that I shouldn't blame myself for doing to right thing by going away, but no because I still feel responsible for all the pain. I still see those images when I close my eyes." He sighed.

I turned so I could look at him, he had his eyes closed. I wondered what he saw now but I wasn't going to ask. I didn't want to bring up images that would hurt him, so I played an other tactic.

"Keep your eyes closed," I whispered running my finger over his eyelids, "and tell me, what are your plans for this summer?"

"Hmm… lets see, waking up every morning knowing that your mother is making breakfast, knowing that you will be joining me for breakfast." He said with a smile, "Watching Ron and Hermione, that would be fun, playing Quidditch in the field behind your house,… … enjoying the sunlight,… …kissing you… …," Softly Harry fell asleep. I continued to watch him for a few seconds and then carefully moved a bit so that I was comfortable enough to fall asleep as well. I slept dreamlessly.

Suddenly I heard someone calling my name and shaking my arm.

"Ginny, Harry. Wake up." I heard Hermione say. It took me a few second to realize where I was.

"Come on guys, if Ron and George see you like this, you'll have to hear it for the rest of your life." Hermione whispered, trying to wake us up.

I opened my eyes and looked at Hermione, she sounded so serious but I could see in her face that she was having a hard time not to laugh herself. I turned my head so I could see what was so funny. I gasped, the elves probably trying to be nice had covered us with a blanket, only the blanket was bright pink with little hearts on it. I looked at it and then at Harry who had opened his eyes as well. We both broke out in a roar of laughter, and Hermione joined in.

When we heard footsteps on the stair Hermione quickly vanished the blanket. Ron walked in, looking confused.

"What's so funny."

"Nothing." I said with tears in my eyes, "I'm going to take a quick shower, mom will be here soon enough, inspecting if we are looking appropriate for today's events"

I got up quickly, wanting to escape, I wasn't in any mood for Ron to harass us.

"Me too." Harry said.

"Why are you downstairs if you aren't ready?" Ron asked surprised.

"I'll tell you later." Harry promised.

Once up the stairs I looked at him.

"You are not going to tell about the blanket." I sputtered still laughing a bit.

"No of course not." Harry agreed. Just before I turned to the girls room he grabbed my hand.

"Ginny, thank you." He said.

"For what?" I asked surprised.

"For giving me a night of dreamless sleep. I knew it was your intension to get me to sleep and it worked." He smiled. After a quick kiss he let me go so we could get ready for a hard day.


	5. Funeral and Future

**_Ok, so this is an unedited chapter… I didn't edit it because I have re-written it a dozen times, that why it took me so long to update in the first place…._**

_**Please make sure you read my note at the bottom…**_

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**Chapter 5.**

The rows with chairs were filled, still people arrived. There must have been thousands of them, all dressed in dark sober colors. I sat next to George and Harry as we were watching the guest arrive. Aurors were guarding the funeral scene, apparently quiet a few death eaters had escaped from the fight, not that they were out and about but still, Kingsley didn't want to take any risks.

I looked at George, he was watching the crowd, his face screwed, like he was thinking very hard about something. I decided I didn't want to know what was going on in his head.

In front of me my father put his arm around my mother, she was crying, like she had done the whole morning. Percy on her other side was holding her hand, murmuring something to her. I couldn't see how he could comfort her, in my eyes he had to do a lot before I could forgive him for all he had said to my parents.

When finally everybody found a place the small wizard who had led Dumbledore's funeral walked up on the stage. His back to the castle.

The site for the memorial grave was place directly across from the castle close to the entrance of the grounds. Everybody who ever would enter the castle grounds would see it. It was a beautiful place, with bushes and flowers around it. Every peaceful. This really was a place people could come to, to remember.

The small wizard started his long speech about good and evil, about loss and the sacrifices that were made. His words didn't mean much to me, he wasn't here when the battle was fought, in my opinion the only ones who were allowed to talk about sacrifices were those who had fought. So I didn't pay much attention, I let my eyes wander over the guests and to the castle.

It looked beautiful in the sun light. No scratch on it. It made it hard to believe that the most horrific fight of my life had taken place here. What made it even more beautiful were the colors. Nobody had noticed it yet, but with every minute that past different colors started to appear on the castle. Writing words, painting pictures or just framing a window.

I looked at George again, he smiled at me, so wickedly that I had the feeling that the colors were only the beginning.

For minutes the wizard droned on, a lot of people were crying around me, moved by his words. I wondered why I wasn't crying, was something wrong with me? In one day I had lost my brother and two very good friends, but I didn't feel particular sad. Maybe the realization hadn't sunk in yet.

I tried to pay attention to the wizard's words but the show George's creation was giving became more and more funny rapidly. Suddenly the wizard stopped talking and the colors jumped of the castle on to the scene around us. Everybody gasped in shock. Large balls of bright colors danced around us. Next to me George was snickering, then suddenly he muttered something under his breath. All the balls exploded drenching everything in bright colors.

"George!" my father yelled and turned around. I had to bite my knuckles to stop laughing out loud. My dad's face looked like a rainbow, one of the balls had exploded right in front of him.

"Aw, come on you all know this would be Fred's funeral with out some fun." George replied with a big smile on his face.

The people who didn't know Fred and George looked annoyed, but those who knew were rocking with laughter. The wizard in the front looked like he was bathed in all colors of paint. Desperate he looked around him, trying to restore the dignity of a funeral. Pleadingly he looked at Harry, who had been laughing as well.

Harry noticed the wizard looking at him, he squeezed my hand softly and let go. He got up and walked towards the front stage. When he placed his foot on the stage behind them suddenly the coffins appeared. Four white, a handful of black and one wooden colored settled themselves in place over the huge grave that Hagrid had made.

Everybody fell silent. I hadn't even considered that Harry would say something in front of all these people, and reporters. But there he was, standing on the stage in front of the coffins pulling out a piece of parchment from his pocket. Apparently he had given it some thought.

It looked a bit funny, Harry was also drenched in color, his sober robes were now reflecting color around him, but now I couldn't laugh, I knew how hard this was going to be for him.

Harry never liked attention, and now every face here was shaping it's focus on him, every camera flashed loudly.

Harry swallowed visible, and smiled a bit.

"This looks now more like a party than a memorial or funeral." He started with a small laugh, "But we have to remember why we are here."

Harry launched in a speech about love, and making choices. Explaining why it was so important to love. Normally I would have listened to every word Harry said, but my mind took me away, back to the conversation I had with Hermione, the day I decided not to give up on loving Harry.

I remember sitting in the common room alone, whipping the tears from my face as I heard the portrait opening.

"Ginny? What is wrong?"

"It's nothing." I muttered turning away from her.

"Ginny, you are not crying about nothing." Hermione had pressed.

"It's nothing." I had said again.

"Is it Harry?" Hermione had asked. You had to give her credit, a book worm as she was, she saw straight through people when it came to emotions.

"Who else." I muttered.

Hermione had sighed and sat down next to me, "Tell me."

"It's nothing really, I just had hoped that maybe he would ask me to the Yule ball, but he just doesn't see me." I said sobbing again.

"Ah, boys…" she had said, by the look on her face she had trouble with them as well.

"Ginny can I say something, as a friend?" She asked.

"Yes."

"You really should start to get your own life. I know for sure Harry sees you, but just as Ron's sister not as dating material. Boys their age in general don't see girls as dating material, they just starting to figure out that girls are different from boys. The Yule ball is harsh reality for them."

"But he is just interested in Cho, so he does notice other girls. Why not me?" I wailed. I felt desperate in that moment. He knew I liked him, he knew it. Like it wasn't clear enough every time my face turned red when he looked at me.

"Ginny, he sees you as his sister, and a very shy one. You really should start to live your own life, forget Harry."

"What good will that do?"

"Well, maybe if you start to be more yourself around him, he will see you differently. You are so funny and cool, surely one day he'll see you differently." Hermione said convinced.

"Really?"

"Really!"

I thought about Hermione's words for a long time, I wondered if they were true. When I woke up the next morning I decided to try Hermione's plan. That was the day I decided not to give up. Miraculously it had worked, with in two years Harry was mine, like I had dreamed of from the first day I saw him at king's Cross.

"And with that I hope that this memorial will remind people to love, like Professor Dumbledore told us so many times before." I heard Harry finishing his speech.

A bit ashamed that I missed most of his speech I applauded loudly with the rest of the people there. Harry fled of the stage, not wanting to spend any other second in the spotlight.

The small wizard was finishing up the official part of the funeral, after his speech Kingsley and McGonagall raised their wands. The coffins disappeared and over the huge grave a black and white marble plaque appeared. Golden letters writing the names of those who were buried here.

As soon as Fred's name appeared in gold fireworks erupted around us. The huge W of the Weasley's formed in the sky above us. It was a bit over the top I thought, but when I saw the 'W' change in a 'L'. I realized what George had done, he was honoring everybody who fought with us and gave their lives for us. Tears started to run down my face.

"Oh George, that's so beautiful." I whispered.

George looked at me and smiled.

"That was the idea, I can't always make a joke out of everything." He said.

Over the crackle of the fireworks Kingsley tried to finish the funeral, most of his words were drowned, but his intentions were clear. Everybody was invited to eat and drink something, food and drinks were being served in the great hall.

Everybody raised and made their way back to the castle, but I felt no need to go and socialize. I remained in my seat. I saw my father comforting my mother again, Bill hugging Fleur, and George and Charlie walking together. Ron was talking to Hermione, she looked annoyed by something but I couldn't see why, Ron grabbed her hand and towed her in a different direction that wasn't heading back to the castle. They disappeared soon.

How much I wanted to disappear with Harry for just a short while, just taking a walk through the ground before returning home, but when I looked where Harry was supposed to be I saw he was being swallowed by ministry officials, reporters and people who just wanted to shake his hand and thank him for what he had done.

I sighed, this was going to be my life, for the months, maybe years, to come Harry would be followed closely, never a moment of rest as soon as he would step out of the door. It was something I had to get used to.

I stared at the memorial grave while I was searching for the will to get back to the castle, it looked so beautiful. The names were placed around the edges and in the middle a few words were written.

'For Love, we all have to show bravery'.

The words made me cry. They remembered me of Fred, Remus and Tonks. All three had shown bravery above all, never second guessed their choices. All three had something to live for, a small baby, a family, a future, now that was all lost. I swore to myself that I would make sure their sacrifice wouldn't be for nothing. That somehow I would find away to live my new life.

Strange word choice? Yes, this was going to be a new life. Before we always have lived in fear, afraid Voldemort might come back, afraid that Harry would get killed, the last three years we all had been afraid for our own lives and that of those we loved. Now we all had to learn to live a life that wasn't based on fear. I wondered how different it would be.

Still crying I thought about the future, about how to fill in my life that would be worth living. Harry would be in it, there was definitely no way I would let him go, but what else? I suddenly realized that I never really thought about the future, about what I wanted. Specially the last few years I had been worrying about living an other year and studying, not about what to do after school.

I shook my head and whipped away the tears, when a hand grabbed my shoulder. I gasped in shock and drew my wand.

"Ginny, are you coming?" Harry asked, "Oh I didn't want to scare you, I thought you had heard me."

"No, it's ok." I sighed and put away my wand.

Harry held out his hand, "Are you coming to eat something?"

"I really don't want to go." I muttered, looking at the castle.

"Yeah me neither." Harry agreed.

"Couldn't we go for a walk and eat later?" I asked.

"Yes lets go for a walk, but we have to get back soon, McGonagall invited us all to her office before leaving for the Burrow." Harry said as he took my hand.

"Oh, why?"

"I'm not sure but I heard her talking about next school year."

"Oh." Was all I could say. Like just a few minutes before I realized I never thought really about the future. I still had to finish school, a whole year, maybe longer, I have missed a lot last year. What about Harry, he haven't been here the whole year, but I doubt he would want to spend an other year here, but I wasn't sure.

"What will you do?" I whispered.

"Don't know yet, I don't think I can spend an other normal school year here, but I do want to continue becoming an auror."

"I have to finish school, my mother will drag me if I'm not going on my own." I said depressed, suddenly realizing that I would have to miss Harry for an other year.

Harry squeezed my hand, noticing the change in my voice.

"We will see what McGonagall has the say first." He said with a smile.

We continued to walk around the lake, it was sunny and quiet warm. After a while I thought of something new to ask him.

"Do you really want to become an auror? I would have thought after this year you would have had enough of dark wizards."

"Hahaha, yes I would have thought so to, but there are a lot of Death Eaters or supporters that have escaped after the fight, I want to see them in Azkaban as well."

"Figures." I muttered. The idea of him chasing after dark wizard again made me shudder with fear.

The castle was getting close, we was a lot of people leaving. The reception must have finished. Funny enough people looked even more colorful, I wondered what George had done.

"George has been busy." Harry commented, thinking the same thing.

I laughed at his comment. As soon as we entered the castle Harry was pulled away from me by people who asked him questions.

"I'll get you when McGonagall wants us." I whispered in his ears and walked over to my family.

Seated together my family was discussing the same thing as Harry and I had done just a few moments ago, what to do next. My dad and Percy were of course discussing returning to the ministry. From what I could make out would Kingsley take up the place as the minister for magic, which made me grin, but besides that there would be a lot of damage to be restored.

Mom was talking with Fleur about the shell cottage and about in what state the Burrow would be. George, Bill and Charlie were talking about work, it sounded boring so I didn't pay attention to them.

Ron, Hermione, Luna and Neville on the other hand were talking about finishing school as well.

"I really want to get my NEWTS." Hermione stated.

"Yeah, me to, although I think I'll fail everything." Neville said a bit shy.

"What about you, Ginny? We missed so much last year." Luna asked.

"I don't know yet, mom would kill me if I didn't finish school, so I have to do at least one year." I muttered, I was so not excited about having to spend a year or more at school without Harry.

"We will figure it out soon," Ron said gloomy, "there is McGonagall."

Sure enough McGonagall was walking towards us.

"Would you five please come with me, I have something I wanted to discus with all of you before you are going home." She said as she reached us.

I got up and looked around for Harry. At the entrance of the hall he was talking to a small wizard, I remembered his last name was Diggle. Harry seemed to notice my stare and looked up, so I waved at him and pointed to McGonagall. He nodded and shook the little wizards hand. When we reached the exit Harry joined us.

We followed her to the head masters office, which must have to be McGonagall's office again. When we entered she waved her wand and six chairs appeared.

"Please sit down." McGonagall ordered while she took place at the other side of the desk.

"First, I want to thank you all, you have shown bravery and loyalty above all this past year." She started, "I also want to thank you all for staying and helping out with the castle, specially you Harry, it was a good idea to get the elves involved, I wouldn't have thought of it."

She paused for a while. The former heads in their portraits were watching us, all smiling. The portrait of Dumbledore hanged above McGonagall's head, he winked at me when he noticed I was watching him.

"I wanted to talk to you about next year. I have already contacted those of the board who survived the war and they agree with me that we are going to continue to teach here. The school will be open as normal next year. Now, for you Luna and you Ginny that would mean that you two would be starting your seventh year, I know that your sixth year have been a bit of a chaos, I leave the choice up to you. Both of you know enough to continue your education in your seventh year, but it will mean you have to push it hard, but if you want to you can do your sixth year over and prepare a bit more for you exams."

I was a bit shocked, she was giving us the choice to finish school in one year.

"I…I don't know." Luna stuttered, seemingly shocked as well.

"You don't have to decided now, you have the summer to think about it. I would like to know what you want to do before half August." McGonagall soothed.

"Hermione I'm fairly sure you want to take you exams, or am I wrong?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, of course I want to do that."

"Good, Neville what about you?"

"I would like to try, I don't know if I would be able to pass anything." Neville muttered.

"Of course you will do well at the exams, I will personally help you, but maybe miss Granger could help you as well." McGonagall bristled.

"of course Neville, we will help you." Hermione encouraged him.

"Ron, you have to know that your mother has been begging me to tell you that you have to get back to school, but I understand if you don't want to. Being out of it for a whole year makes it very difficult to get back into it, so think carefully of what you want to do and let me know, you are very welcome here."

McGonagall paused looking at Harry. She looked motherly and stern at the same time.

"Harry," she sighed, "I have been wondering what you are going to do now."

"I don't know…I need to finish school to get into the auror office, but……the attention next year for me would be worse than ever, I don't know if I could handle even walking to class."

"Yes, I have been thinking about that as well, not to mention that you should have to attend a lot of trails against death eaters. Same probably goes for Hermione and Ron." McGonagall nodded, she seemed deep in thought for a few minutes.

"I have an idea…" she began, "I promised you to help you becoming an auror and I'm not going to break that promise, what about this, You start here next year, attend the classes you are able to or feel that you need that to get your NEWTS, you have total freedom to make your own choices, and your own hours. You shall have total excess to the library so you can study in silence. You'll share you dormitory with Neville, maybe Ron, and you old class mates who want to finish school as well. Kreacher can stay here as well, so if you don't want to eat in the great hall, he can take care of feeding you. How sounds that."

Harry thought about it for a few minutes. I was almost bursting with happiness, it would be too good, would I really get a whole year with Harry at school. No parents, no dark wizard at the gates, nothing to big to worry about. Just a year of peace.

"I think I'm going to try your idea. I like it." Harry agreed with McGonagall.

"It would mean you have to work very hard on your own, but I'm willing to help you if you need it." McGonagall commented.

After a short goodbye McGonagall told us we could go home. Harry and I walked at the back of the party, the others were discussing next school year. Hermione was of course horrified by Ron not wanting to come back to school. I couldn't keep from smiling, if nothing changed I was going to have a whole year of peace with Harry.

In the entrance hall my family was already waiting for us, ready to leave for home.

"Ready?" My father asked.

"Almost." Harry said, "Kreacher!"

With a pop Kreacher appeared at his feet.

"Yes, master."

"I'm going to spend the summer at the Burrow, but I want Grimmauld place to stay clean and livable, I want you to take care of that. I'll ask Kingsley to make sure the place is safe before you go there, you don't need to clean it every day but just keep it livable. I'll call you when I know the house is safe, in the meantime you can stay here in the castle with the other elves."

"Yes, master."

And with a pop he disappeared again.

"Now, I'm ready."

"Ok, all the trunks are already home, so let's go." My dad said brightly.

Using the flew network Bill and Fleur headed back to the shell cottage, George to his apartment above the store, and we for de Burrow.

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**Like I said at the beginning of the chapter I didn't edited it...the one reason was after twelve tries I still wasn't happy with it...because the next chapter is turning out to be so fantastic to write... I though what the ...I post this, maybe my readers like it...**

**so please tell me what you think (I know there are some errors in it, so please don't tell me) but let me know if you think it as bad as I do...**

**I'll promise you all a very interesting and fun, lovely and surprising next chapter very soon...**


	6. First Night

_**I didn't want my readers to have to wait until monday for a new chapter, I decided to post it now...**_

**_Thanks for the last reviews, I'm glad to see some of you liked it..._**

**_as I promissed this chapter is better... (or at least I hope you think so) please read my note at the bottom!!!!_**

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****Chapter 6**

My mother put us to work as soon as we had arrived, cleaning, making the beds ready to sleep in, and getting the laundry started. So it was late when we finally finished her chores. I was exhausted, but I didn't want to go to bed just yet. I first needed to find Harry, making sure he would sleep as well.

I started at Fred and George's old bed room, Harry would be sleeping there now that George had gone back to the store. Charlie was sharing the bigger room with Percy for a short holiday, so Harry would have the room for himself. It was very thoughtful of my mother to give Harry the space to process all that had happened but I was going to make sure he didn't dwell on his guilt feelings to much.

I knocked softly on the door.

"come in, Ginny." Harry said.

"How did you know it was me?" I demanded as I walked in.

"Easy, I have been expecting you to check up on me." Harry shrugged. I just noticed that he was in process of changing in to his sleeping gear and that he was wearing nothing but his sleeping short.

"Oh, … should I…uhm, should I wait outside until you are ready." I said blushing bright red.

"Don't be silly." He said as he pulled a shirt over his head. I stood there, my back pressed against the door, my mind temporary blank.

For as long as I had been in love with Harry it had been just a young girls crush, never desired any thing more than those kisses we shared during those wonderful first days. But now, some sort of new emotion was running through me, …… seeing his bared chest, surprisingly muscled arms. I had noticed these feelings before, every time we kissed, hugged and even looked in each other eyes the last few days, it made the muscles in the pit of my stomach contract and my knees feel like jelly, but I had not been able to put a name to those feelings because they were so new, but now……

"Ginny?... are you ok?" I heard Harry pulling me back to the present.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine, just lost in thought." I replied quickly.

"Something you want to share with me." He asked, totally unaware.

"No, not yet, maybe some other time." I muttered as I tried to compose myself.

"Oh, ok." He said surprised.

"What do you think, could you stay here for the whole summer, after the freedom of camping for almost a year?" I asked quickly before he pressed the matter.

"Yes, definitely." He beamed, "Hermione did her best to make everything as comfortable as possible but nothing wins against a real bed to sleep in, and your mother cooking."

"Good, because I'll be just across the hall. I don't want you farther away than that from me." I tried to make it a joke, but I really meant it. Last year had been difficult enough, I wasn't about the let him go that easily, even inside the house.

"Hahaha… I know Ginny, shall I wake you up tomorrow before I go down for breakfast." He joked back. I grimaced, "Hermione is sleeping in my room as well, I don't think she can appreciate you seeing her in her sleeping gown."

"Hmmm, maybe." He agreed. Slowly he put away his things and sat down on the bed. Suddenly he looked up and smiled wickedly at me.

"Are you going to stand there all night watching me sleep? Come here." He said, holding out his hand.

I moved over to him, as soon as I was in reach he grabbed my hand and pulled me on the bed.

"My mother is going to kill us, if she sees us like this." I said a little breathless.

"Why, you are just keeping me company until I fall asleep." He said as he lay down next to me. Mischief clear in his voice. Before I could reply seriously he kissed me, and I lost every word I had in my reply.

Again those new emotions were running through my veins, I suddenly found the name for the things I was feeling, lust! Desire! I was a bit shocked by the realization, I was sixteen for crying out loud, too young to even think about things like that. But in that moment I desired nothing more than him even closer to me.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door.

"Ginny," Hermione hissed, "I know you're in there, your mother is coming to check on us in a few minutes."

Both flushing red Harry and I looked at each other.

"You better go." Harry whispered, working hard to keep his face seriously. His voice rough with emotion. I wonder if he had just experienced the same thing I had.

"Yes." I replied, my whole body shaken by the realization I just had.

"Sleep well."

"Will you be alright?" I asked.

"Yes, I think I can sleep peaceful now." Harry said, a strange look lingered in his eyes, not an unpleasant one, but one that made my legs feel like jelly again.

"Ok." I said as I got up slowly. Placing a kiss on his forehead, "Sleep well."

Silently I hurried out of his room back to my own. Hermione was waiting for me on her bed.

"Thanks for warning me, Hermione." I whispered as I quickly changed in my nightgown.

"Ginny…" Hermione started and I braced myself for a lecture on responsibility

"Yes." I answered gloomy.

"How is Harry coping?" She asked timidly.

"Oh…" I didn't expect her to ask that. "I'm not sure… he has changed so much the last year, I'm sure you'll be more able to measure him, you have seen what he has been through."

"Yes, but he doesn't talk to us much, Ron and I are worried."

"Why?"

"This change you see, happened only in the last few hours of the fight, we have no idea exactly what happened when he saw Snape's memory or what happened in the forest, but a different Harry emerged from that." She explained.

"Oh, I thought it had been the whole year, that had changed him." I muttered.

"Yes, it did, Dobby's death was a huge blow for him, but nothing changed him so much as those last few hours." Hermione nodded.

I shuddered at the reminder of Dobby's death, I knew Harry would have been devastated by it. I wondered how he had dealt with it.

"What did Harry do when Dobby died? He never told us."

"He buried him, he dug the grave out by hand, I was to weak to help him but the others did. Ron told me Harry had cried through the whole process. When it was time to burry Dobby, Harry looked different, more determined to finish Voldemort. It was like the whole process made him realize what was important again."

I nodded, not knowing what to say. The images that filled my head weren't pretty. I had never seen Harry cry, expect for that horrible night when Dumbledore was killed. Harry didn't show those emotions easily, anger and frustration, yes those were always on the surface.

Thinking about it now, even in the days before Harry had left he had been very reserved about any other emotion, like love. I had been so happy that he finally was mine that I didn't pay much attention to it, but after experiencing how Harry could show his love for me, I realized that before he didn't really show much affection. Yes, he cared for me, and he loved me in an other way than a sister, but this was different. These changes I had put away as a reaction to the time apart and having to grow up so quickly, but now I wondered if there was something more behind it. Suddenly my mind wrapped around it, and I gasped.

"What is it, Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"I,… I think…" I started, but shook my head, trying to organize a proper answer.

"What?" Hermione pressed.

"Maybe it was the horcrux that changed him so much." I muttered.

"What are you talking about?"

"As you said, it was like a different Harry came out of the forest. Hermione, it is a different Harry." I rushed out.

"OK, you are not making sense. Explain slowly."

"Hermione, you have seen the other horcruxes, can you imagine what one could do to the person it exists in." I whispered. Finally Hermione caught on and gasped loudly.

"Of course…" She hissed, "That makes sense, but how could he… before…how…?"

"What are you thinking, Hermione?"

"Well…, the horcrux in the locket, to safeguard it we wore it, taking turns. That was needed because the horcrux effected us in a huge way, Ron mostly, when he wore it he was so quickly irritated about the most normal things, it made Ron and Harry bickering against each other a lot. I was mostly depressed when I wore it." She stopped as she took a deep breath.

"That horcrux was contained, resting on our clothes, and yet it effected us in such way. To think about a horcrux on the loose in your body, like the one that was placed in Harry…" she shuddered, "I can't believe he has been able to be so sweet and understanding all those years. That thing must have had a huge influence on him."

"I think it did." I whispered.

"How?" Hermione asked surprised.

"Well…, he's usually quite quickly irritated and sometimes he can get really angry. In those moment he is not the Harry we know. Remember when he attacked Malfoy? The Harry we know would never do that to his worst enemy, Malfoy must have done something to push him over the edge. And… I … I don't know how you have experienced it as a friend, but as his girlfriend I can definitely see a change in the way he shows his love and affection. I thought it was because of the time we have been apart and because we both are more mature now, but things have changed, he is much more open about it."

"Really?"

"Yes, I think that maybe, we are now seeing the real Harry." I had to smile at that statement, besides his quilt feelings and the things he had to work through I liked this new Harry. I liked it a lot.

Suddenly a knock on the door made us both gasp.

"You girls really should go to sleep now." My mom said as she opened the door. "You have time enough this summer to talk."

"Yes." Hermione nodded and wiggled herself between her blankets.

"Goodnight mom."

"Sleep well, girls."

We kept silent for a while, listening to my mother checking every bedroom and than telling my father that everybody was safely in bed. I was about to ask Hermione an other question, something about her plans for the summer but she was already sleeping.

I rolled over so I could sleep as well, but as tired as I was I couldn't sleep right away. My brain kept busy thinking about the conversation I just had with Hermione. I wondered if Harry had come to the same conclusion already. I would have guessed that he had, or at least the Dumbledore in the portrait must have realized it.

I wondered what he would have told Harry, would he have said that Harry had to learn to live his life like the real Harry should? Or did he told Harry to take it step by step? I wondered how this all would affect Harry? I liked the new Harry, or at least the part that made my legs feel like jelly, but how else would he be different? I could imagine how strange this all must be for Harry.

Somewhere while running through these thoughts I fell asleep. It wasn't an easy sleep, it seemed like my mind was only now catching up. I dreamed about the fight, about Death Eaters killing people I loved. Suddenly I jolted up, gasping for air.

At first I thought my nightmare woke me up, the last image I saw in my nightmare was Harry carried in by Hagrid, but as I controlled my breathing I heard a sound across the hall.

"No… please stop…" I heard someone moaning. Still full of adrenaline from the dream I assumed the worst. Grabbing my wand I carefully moved to the door, listening to the sounds.

"No…no, please don't hurt them." I heard again, it sounded terribly like Harry's voice.

Careful not to wake Hermione I opened the door, I needed to get to Harry, he needed my help. I didn't even think about the possible dangers. I didn't even think what his pleading, which sounded so pained, could mean, I didn't even think about the possibility of an enemy in the house. Silently I crept along the small bit of wall until I reached Harry's room.

As I placed my hand on the doorknob I heard Harry gasp, and trash against his blankets. What on earth was going on in that room? When I heard Harry moan an other 'no' I opened the door, wand raised in dueling position I stepped in the room.

Nobody was there! I looked around, surprised. It took me a second to realize what was going on. I looked at Harry, he was still trashing against his blankets, and begging someone to stop.

"Don't hurt them, I'm here, it's me you want." Harry moaned again, he was whimpering and clearly in pain. I rushed over to his bed.

"Harry! Harry!, wake up!" I whispered trying to wake him. I shook his shoulder a couple of times. It took me almost a two minutes, but suddenly he gasps and opened his eyes.

"What?" He said shocked, his eyes wide with panic.

"Shhh…, it's alright, you were dreaming." I tried to comfort him.

"Ginny?" he whispered as he grabbed my arm.

"Yes, it's me, I heard you dreaming."

"Ginny, are you alright?" He asked still full of panic.

"Yes, Harry, it was just a dream." I whispered again, running my hand trough his hair. Finally my words seemed to reach him. He looked around, disorientated. He took a few deep breaths and relaxed slowly.

"Oh." He whispered, and slumped back against his pillow, "It's was so real." He was shaking his head, through the dim light from the moon I saw the tears streaming down his face. I sat down next to him, still stroking his hair, hoping to sooth him.

"Harry, are you alright?" I whispered softly after a few minutes. He shook his head in denial and wiped away the tears, but they kept on coming. I moved bit so I could hold him, his head against my shoulder, rocking softly, whispering that everything was going to be alright. After a long time his breathing became calm again and the sobs stopped slowly. I kissed the top of his head, I would have been perfectly fine with sitting here all night, just making sure Harry would get some decent sleep.

"Thanks, Ginny." Harry muttered.

"You are very welcome." I whispered as a smile crossed my face.

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Nah, doesn't matter, I was having the same nightmares, I was happy to be woken out of them."

Harry sat up and turned to look at me. Suddenly he looked down and saw my wand laying next to him on the cabinet.

"Why did you bring that?" He asked surprised.

"I heard you moaning and begging, I was still full of my own dreams, I thought you were attacked." I confessed.

"and you didn't go and wake your father?" He asked incredulous.

"No, no need for them to get themselves hurt."

"Ginny," He moaned again, "I'd rather you didn't get yourself hurt."

"Yeah, right, like I was going to walk past you while someone was torturing you to get my father, I would rather kill that person myself." I snorted softly.

"You are unbelievable." He shook his head, than placed it in my lap. Harry closed his eyes again, but opened them quickly.

"What is it, don't you want to sleep?" I asked.

"I still can't get the dream out of my system." He muttered.

"Tell me about it, it will help if you talk about it."

He thought about it for a second, shuddering a few times, probably at some memory.

"Ok, I'll tell you, but then you have to tell me yours." Harry stated.

"Ok…" I agreed with reluctance. He didn't need to have my nightmares as well.

"I was dreaming about what had happened at the Malfoy manor. Hermione was tortured there and there was nothing Ron and I could do to prevent her from being hurt, but in my dream I was standing right there in the room, watching how everybody I loved was being tortured. They wanted me to give in, and I told them they could kill me, but after they did I was still there and they continued torturing everybody, even you." His voice broke, tears were running down his face again. "I couldn't do anything, I had already given everything and it didn't work, my sacrifice didn't work like my mother's did."

His eyes again full of the panic he had experienced in his dream. I stroke his hair again to sooth him.

"Harry please, your sacrifice did work, remember, you even told him about the true meaning of that sacrifice. That you weren't there when Hermione was being tortured wasn't your fault, you did safe her after all, you called for help, remember." I pointed out the things he had told us.

"Yes, but-."

"You still feel responsible for her being hurt." I finished his sentence. "Harry, please, please try stopping to feel responsible for every little detail. The only thing you are allowed to feel responsible for is your own happiness."

"You sound like Dumbledore, you two say it like I can do that." He muttered.

"You could at least try." I said while I kissed his forehead. Harry smiled up at me, peace was already returning in his eyes.

"I'll try," He nodded, "Now tell me what your dream was about."

"Nothing much, my mind is finally catching up with what has happened, I was dreaming about the fight in the castle, I woke up at the point when Hagrid carried you in." I shook my head, "I don't think I can ever forget that image."

"But I was alright." Harry whispered, I could guess he was trying to point out the my worries were as stupid as his.

"I know, it's just, I haven't had the chance to place it in the proper file in my head. I'll be good after a few of the nightmares."

He sighed and closed his eyes again. This time he kept them closed. I continued stroking his hair, sometimes his face or neck. Suddenly a smile spread across his face.

"Ginny, you have to sleep as well." Harry whispered.

"I'm not going to leave you alone now." I said stubbornly.

"So you are going to sit here all night." He added with a bit of sarcasm.

"Do you have a better idea? Which include me staying here until you sleep again."

"If you insist on staying you might as well get more comfortable."

This took me a bit by surprise, I remembered how I felt a few hours ago, I wasn't completely sure this was a good idea. Before I could answer Harry moved so I could lay done next to him. I hesitated a bit, Harry noticed.

"Your mom won't notice, it's Ron you have to worry about." He teased. And he was right, I wasn't worried about their reaction, but about mine. I pushed my worries away it would have come to this sooner rather than later, I realized. I pulled my legs in as Harry held up the blankets so I could shove them under it. I wiggled a bit so I was comfortable, when I lay still Harry wrapped his arm around me and took a deep breath.

"I think I'll be able to sleep like this." He muttered in relief and completely relaxed.

"Good, please try to sleep." I muttered as I looked up and kissed him softly.

"You too, get some rest." He smiled and kissed me back.

It wasn't a long or very passionate kiss, but it, probably due to the fact of being so close to Harry, made my body respond in the strangest way. I broke the kiss off quickly taking in a deep breath to steady myself.

"Sleep well, Ginny." Harry whispered.

"You too." I muttered back, still reeling from the emotions that suddenly grabbed a hold of me. These lustful feelings terrified me, the butterflies in my stomach were fluttering like crazy, and my whole body shivered. Again I had the desire to hold Harry even closer. Lying next to him made it very difficult not to act on these desires. I had to remind myself every minute that I was sixteen, way too young to even feel these desires let alone act on them.

Luckily Harry fell asleep very soon, that helped me concentrate on my own quest for sleep. Harry's soft breathing helped me relax and surprisingly soon I was sleeping as well.

I dreamed again, but this time about Harry and me. I dreamed about things I found inappropriate for me to think about when I was awake, the things I had pushed away only a short time ago. When my mind wandered off to far I forced myself to wake up. Those images my mind had showed were definitely not meant for a sixteen year old to see, I thought as I shook my head a bit to clear it.

It was already light outside, the sun was shining bright again. Still wrapped in Harry's arms I looked up to get a view of the clock, it was still early. Concentrating hard, I listened for sounds, making sure everybody was still in bed. I was shocked to hear my mother downstairs already, throwing around pots and pans, making breakfast. In shock I wondered if my mother had checked on us when she had made their way downstairs.

"You shouldn't worry, she doesn't know." I heard Harry mutter. I looked up to see him already awake and smiling. I let out a sigh of relieve when his words made sense to me.

"How long are you awake?" I asked.

"Just ten minutes. I heard your mother walking down the stairs only a few minutes later, she hasn't checked the rooms yet."

"You should think she expects us to sleep in the same bed." I joked.

"Nah, I don't think so, she worries to much about our safety, there is no place for other worries." Harry said lightly. He hadn't noticed I wasn't paying attention. My joking about my mothers worries reminded me of mine.

"We should get dressed before she decides to make sure everybody is safely where the should." I muttered as I slowly got up

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**As you have noticed Ginny and Harry are growing up...therefore I'm considering to raise the rating of this story, just in case.... you never know what is going to happen in the future...Let me know if you are with me on that or if you think I should keep the story rated like this....**

**and please please please Review... I'm aiming on a minimun of 10 reviews for this chapter...**


	7. Letter from Kingsley

**_I'm sorry it took so long for me to update, I'm still trying to figure out how Ginny is going to the through her life. So it took me a while to finish this chapter. in this chapter a small piece of the new dynamics in Harrys and Ginnys relationships are shown_**

**_I hope you all will enjoy this... Please please please review..._**

**_I really want to thank all those who have already send me their reviews... I love them..._**

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****Letter from Kingsley**

Twenty minutes later I was running down the stairs, I had quietly changed so Hermione would stay asleep. When I reached the kitchen I found my mother serving Harry and George breakfast.

"George, you're here early. How are things at Diagon alley?" I asked as I sat down next to Harry.

"Yeah, I didn't have any food, so I got here."

That explains.

"The Diagon alley still seems a bit dead. It's very quiet, but Olivander had a look at his shop early this morning." George told us.

"Really?" My mother asked when she placed my breakfast in front of me.

"Yeah, I talked to him before leaving, he says he wants to continue business."

"That's really good, I didn't think he would ever be up for it again." Harry said.

"Are you going to open the store again?" My mother asked seriously when she sat down next to George.

"Yes of course I will. I might need some help, though…"

"Why?" I asked.

"Well Fred and I together were already working very hard to keep up with the demands, alone I know for sure I can't keep up."

"Maybe Ron can help you this summer." My mother suggested.

"That's not a bad plan at all, if Hermione lets him." George said.

"What? Why?" My mother sputtered.

"Ow, come on mom! Haven't you noticed they are an item now." George laughed.

My mom looked taken aback, got up and muttered something. Suddenly after a bit of pacing she headed up the stairs.

"Is she really…going to… check…"George sputtered out in laughter.

Harry and I just looked at each other for a second, I felt the heat creeping up my face, as Harry smiled knowingly at me. I got up quickly before my blush sold us out, taking my plate to the sink to rinse it. George was still rocking with laughter when my mother got back downstairs.

"Mom, this is Ron you are worried about, remember," George howled, "Ron knows just enough to see that girls are different, you weren't seriously thinking he would know what to do when Hermione walked in to his room…hahahaha…"

George almost fell of his chair with laughter, I was sure he was imagining Ron's reaction if Hermione only hinted to something like sleeping together. I had to giggle at that at well.

"Enough laughing on my behalf." My mother snapped, she looked confused and angry at the same time. George quickly turned to his breakfast.

Shortly after that the whole family was downstairs, all of them woken up by George hysteric laughter, but when my dad asked what was so funny, non of us was prepared to say something. Ron and Hermione were at the table also.

"Mom was being funny." George muttered, earning a sly grin from my mom. She had finally realized that her reaction had been stupid. I hoped she would never realize that she have had her target on the wrong couple.

When everybody was finishing their breakfast, thing grew a little uncomfortable. It was like we didn't know what to do. This was the first day of total freedom, no dark wizards to worry about, no school to get ready for, we had nothing planned.

"Percy and I are going to see how things are at the ministry." My father announced. When we talked about what to do with our first free day.

"Are you sure?" My mother asked.

"Yes, Kingsley asked us too. So I thought we would go today."

"I'm going back to the shop." George said, while he got up. Dad, Percy and George were gone quickly. The five of us were left behind.

"What are you going to do, Charlie?" Hermione asked.

"I guess I have to get back to work as well." He sighed.

"You don't look so happy about it." Hermione noted.

"I had been hoping to take a short holiday but I got an owl this early morning with people begging me to come and help them. Apparently one of the dragons has eggs, they need help with her."

"When will you come back?" my mother asked.

"Not sure, that depends on the amount of work that has to be done. I'll send you an owl when I know." He said.

"All your clothes are already clean, they're on the sofa." She informed him.

Charlie got up with a smile, grabbed his clothes and head upstairs to pack for the journey back to work.

"Well that just leaves the four of us." Ron sighed.

"Yes, could you guys tackle the garden, get the gnomes out, the weeds and water the flower beds?" My mom asked. Ron looked disappointed, I guess he had been hoping on a lazy day, but Harry on the other hand looked happy.

"Come on, Ron, we'll have fun, the weather is nice." Harry said as he got up.

"Okay, after that we are going to play some Quidditch." Ron said.

"Sounds like a plan." Harry said.

Once outside, Hermione and I worked on the flowerbeds, taking the weeds out between them. As Harry had said the weather was nice, sunny and warm. It felt good to be outside in the sun. Harry and Ron were chasing after gnomes, laughing and screaming as they went. It was funny to watch.

"You wouldn't say anything has happened the last few days if you see them like that." Hermione giggled when Harry and Ron were rolling on the ground fighting a particular large gnome.

"Maybe life will turn into something peaceful." I said.

"I surely hope so." Hermione said looking seriously.

"But you're not convinced?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

"Not totally, there are quite a few death eaters that have escaped. I'm afraid it will take a long time before we are all really safe again, Harry especially."

That was true, but I wasn't particular scared of them, Harry had defeated the darkest wizard of all, surely he could protect himself against the remaining few.

"Harry knows how to protect himself, and besides that we will be back at Hogwarts very soon." I said. Hermione smiled at the idea of going back to school.

We continued to pull weeds for an other thirty minutes when my mother walked out with a tray of lemonade hovering in front of her.

"Time for a break!." She called.

"Finally." Ron muttered.

"So, are you two ever going to tell us why George was howling in laughter this morning or are you waiting for me to go insane?" Ron prompted when mom was back in the kitchen.

"Oh." Was all I could say without blushing again.

"Ginny?" Ron pressed.

"George told your mother about you and Hermione." Harry saved me.

"what's so funny about that?" Hermione said a bit hurt.

"Nothing, except Mrs. Weasley suddenly felt the need to check the rooms." Harry said poker face still perfectly in place. How on earth did he do that?

"That's still not funny." Ron said blushing furiously.

"George thought the idea of you two…"

"That's still not funny." Ron interrupted Harry looking angry.

"Hey, you asked why George was laughing so loudly." I snapped. Not wanting to thread this path any further I searched for a way to change the subject. This time Hermione saved me from Ron's angry glare

"Let's get going, finish the garden, after lunch you guys can fly again." She suggested.

"Yes, that sounds good." I quickly agreed.

The morning past quietly. Hermione and I were finished before the boys were, so we helped my mom getting lunch ready. It was past noon when we all sat down for lunch. Between eating and drinking Harry and Ron discussed what to do next, playing Quidditch or just flying around.

"To bad, I have no idea where my firebolt is." Harry said depressed.

"You can use an old one from the shed." My mom said.

"That very nice of you but I miss my old broom, I'll have to buy a new one soon." Harry muttered.

Once lunch was finished Ron and Harry set of towards the shed to get the brooms for us. When Harry opened the door he screamed. I never knew that I was so fast but I was up and wand drawn before Hermione looked up.

"What is it, Harry?" My mom called.

"My broom!" He screamed, "it's in here!"

I let out a sigh of relieve and sat down again.

"You could have told us." I muttered to my mom.

"And spoil the surprise, I don't think so."

"I was about to have a heart attack." I muttered when Harry passed.

"I'm sorry, but this is brilliant." Harry said happily as he walked towards us.

"Arthur kept it save for you, hoping you would use it again." My mom said proudly.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley." Harry hugged her, "come on, girls, lets fly."

It was good to be flying again, feeling really free. Even Harry was laughing and smiling freely. We flew until mom called us back in to get ready for dinner. Placing the brooms back in the shed, we were all harassing Hermione about her flying skills. Ron and Harry thought it to be a good thing that she wasn't good at it, but they just needed to tease her about it.

Hermione knew she was never going to get better at it so she didn't even mind the boys teasing her. Laughing and giggling we cleaned up and sat down at the table.

Dinner was nice and quiet. Percy and dad weren't home yet so it was just the five of us. When we were about to start dessert an owl flew in, and landed in front of Harry.

After a quick read through, Harry looked up.

"Here, listen to this, it's a letter from Kingsley." Harry said. I read with him over his shoulder as he read it out loud to the others.

_Dear Harry,_

_I know you are at the Weasleys for the summer, so please let them read this letter as well. As you know a few Death Eaters got away after the fight. We are working very hard to find them all, but until now without any luck. Therefore I have decided to place some extra security around the Burrow._

_You and the Weasleys are of course free to do what ever you want and go where ever you want to go, but keep in mind the dangers that are lurking. Please make sure you are safe. The extra security is just there because you spend your most venerable times at the Burrow, when you are sleeping. We don't want anyone attacking you all while you are sleeping._

_On other note,_

_I have send aurors to Grimmauld place, there were no curses or traps, so you are free to go there as well._

_Tomorrow we will be moving the Dursleys back to their own house. If you want to accompany me than, you are welcome. I'll be picking them up at 10 in the morning, if you want to please come to my office at 9.30. That way we could discus other pressing matters more privately. Please send an answer with this owl._

_Hope to see you soon._

_Kingsley._

_PS, Gringrotts wants to talk to you as well, we will make an appointment with them as soon as possible._

Had Hermione seers skills? Wasn't it just a few hours ago that she was worrying about the escaped Death Eaters. My mom had turned white with fear and paced in front of her clock, eyeing it every few seconds. It appeared that we had nothing to worry about, the hands were pointing to the normal activities, but I couldn't totally shake the fear those words brought off.

"Are you going?" Ron asked, "with Kingsley tomorrow to get your family?"

"Yes, I need to talk to him and I want to see the Dursleys for one last time." Harry answered.

"Are you sure, they haven't been very nice to you." Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I know, but I have to say a proper goodbye."

"Do you really think Death Eaters are going to attack us?" I whispered while re-reading the letter.

"I don't know, I hadn't expected those who got away to rest. I have the feeling they want revenge." Harry answered, taking my hand in his. It didn't work like it used to do, normally his touch would calm me, but fear was still creeping up.

"There is no way they will attack you, Harry, they probably will be afraid of you." Ron said hopefully.

"I don't know, Ron. They will be desperate, we don't know what they will do." Hermione muttered. She looked a bit scared as well.

"I really don't care." Harry muttered.

"How can you say that!" I gasped surprised.

"Easy, if they even think about attacking you, Hermione or your family, they'll have to answer to me, I'll make sure they spend a life time in Azkaban… or worse…" Harry said. He looked so angry and sure about his statement that I believed his words with out a doubt. Which scared me even more. I didn't want Harry to throw his life on line just for us. He had done that already once and that was more than enough. I couldn't even think about the consequences of a second time.

We finished dinner quietly, all lost in thought. After that we moved to the sitting room. But never really noticed it, I just followed Harry, I was just so lost in my thoughts. Mostly thinking about the letter, and the meaning of the fact that there were still Death Eaters on the loose. I really was afraid. I too, had heard the story about Neville's parents seen them in the hospital. They were attacked by desperate Death Eaters. Back then they had something to search for, something to gain information about. Why would they want to attack now? Voldemort was death, there was nothing left for them to hold on too. Harry was probably right, they would want revenge.

There was no way I would let them, I would rather die myself then having them attack Harry. I closed my eyes for a second just to chase the horrible thoughts away. I tried to focus on Harry, who was sitting next to me, his hand in mine, softly talking to Ron about defenses, just in case. His soft voice in whisper was soothing, but I couldn't totally shake the horror of me. I couldn't make the horrible images of the last days go away.

"Ginny, you've got to breath. Ginny, open your eyes?" Harry suddenly said, his hands on my face.

I couldn't understand what he meant, I was so lost in the horror that overwhelmed me. I opened my eyes and saw Harry looking very worried at me. What was wrong?

"Ginny, breath." Harry said again, he sounded alarmed.

I tried to focus and closed my eyes again, breathing seemed to be the key, I tried but the images my mind kept throwing at me were so terrifying that I couldn't really focus on anything other. The image of Neville's parents in the hospital had been burned in my memory for ever, but my mind now kept showing different faces in that ward. Mostly Harry's, with white wispy hair, and scares running down his face. I couldn't make my mind stop

"She's panicking." Hermione muttered. Still the clues didn't penetrate my thoughts. Deep down I knew I was safe, at home, Harry was with me as well as my family and best friend, but somehow my body reacted completely different. Adrenaline was coursing through my body, drowning me in panic and things I knew weren't happening, but I just couldn't pull out of it.

"She has to breath soon or she'll faint." I heard Hermione whispering.

"Ginny, open your eyes." Harry whispered, while he squeezed my hand.

I slowly opened them again but I couldn't see through the tears that were streaming out of them without my consent.

"This isn't working," Harry muttered, through the tears I could see him looking thoughtful. Suddenly he kissed me, not softly, but it felt very nice. After a second I had to gasp for air and pulled away. I took a deep breath and instantly recognized that I hadn't been breathing correctly for a long time. My head was spinning from the lack of oxygen. It took me several breaths before my head stopped spinning.

My whole body relaxed and finally I could push the images away. The adrenaline was still there making me shiver and cold.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked me. All I could do was nod, suddenly ashamed. Now, a bit more relaxed I finally realized that I had a panic attack over some stupid letter, which was just to warn and prepare us. _Nice, Ginny, that's how you be the strong girlfriend._ I thought to myself sarcastically.

Harry wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to him.

"You know I won't let anything happen to you, right?" He asked

"Yes, that wasn't exactly what I was thinking about." I admitted. At first Harry's eyes widen with confusion but when he grasped the meaning behind my words his eyes narrowed.

"Ginny." He sighed, "You really need to stop worrying about me, your mother does that enough already. I'm here and I won't leave you, if you want to you can come with me tomorrow."

"I know, I couldn't help it." I muttered, feeling my face turning bright red as I saw Ron and Hermione looking at me as well. _Could it be any more embarrassing_. I turned to hide my face in Harry's neck.

"It's ok, Ginny, we just have to be a bit more careful for a while." Harry muttered as he rubbed my back, trying to sooth me.

_Why couldn't we just live a quiet life, why did everything always had to balance on life and death_. I desperately thought. All I ever asked for was a peaceful life with the man I loved. Why couldn't that just be.

"I know, why can't we just have a happy peaceful life." I whispered.

"That's what will happen if you hang around with Harry Potter." He said, I could here the sarcasm in his words. I knew he had been thinking along the same lines.

It took me a while to completely relax. Harry kept his arm around me as he continued to discus the Death Eaters with Ron and Hermione. After a while my dad got home and joined the discussion. He had talked to Kingsley about the defenses around the house and possible escorts for when we wanted to go somewhere, but Harry waved that one quickly away.

I was too tired to participate in the discussion, the panic attack had drained me. I don't know how long we sat there but suddenly I woke up, finding myself in my bed and the sun already shining brightly.

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**Please don't forget to review!**


	8. Thoughts

**I'm so so sorry I took so long to update...I still have problem putting my ideas on paper...Ginny is going to get a hectic life, but will have a lot of fun along the way...**

**I hope you'll all like the next chapter...**

**Please please please review... I really do love them**

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**Chapter 8, Thoughts.**

Disorientated I turned around.

"Hermione?" I muttered, but there was no reaction.

"Harry?" I tried again, still no reaction. I blinked a few times and realized that it must have been later than I thought. Sunbeams fell in my room in a different angle than they would in the early morning. I raised myself up so I could see Hermione's bunk bed, which was empty. Strange... I wondered for a few seconds how I had gotten in bed. I remember myself laying in Harry's arm while he talked to Ron, Hermione and my father. I must have fallen asleep on the sofa.

I got out of my bed, my legs felt shaky, I guessed I had been sleeping for a long time. I couldn't remember any dreams, I couldn't even remember getting in bed.

I took a quick shower and dressed in a light colored sundress. On my way downstairs I checked Harry's room to see if he was still in bed but it was empty.

I hurried downstairs to find the house empty. I stood still for a second, listening if there was anyone around the house, I heard my mother outside.

"Mom? Where is everybody?" I asked as I opened the door.

"Oh, good morning, you have slept quite long, dear."

"How long exactly? What is the time?" I asked confused.

"It's almost midday."

Wow, I have been sleeping for a very long time.

"But where is everybody?"

"Ron and Hermione are picking some fresh fruits for lunch and Harry is with Kingsley getting his family home."

Dang! Of course, I hadn't really thought about it, but now I was sorry that I wasn't with him. I didn't want him to have to do these things alone. I wanted to be by his side, like his girlfriend would be.

My mother must have noticed my reaction to the fact that Harry already left.

"He did want to take you with him, but you were sleeping so deeply that he decided not to wake you." My mom informed me.

"How did I got in my bed in the first place." I muttered.

"You fell asleep on the sofa. Harry brought you upstairs when we all were going to bed."

My brain showed me pictures of my strong boyfriend lifting me up the stairs. It was a lovely picture that I hoped one day to experience consciously.

I walked out to sit with my mother, she had sat herself at the garden table, waving her wand lazy over a piece of fabric. When she noticed I was looking at it she answered my unspoken question.

"It's a dress for you. To wear this summer, I thought you must have grown out most of them by now."

"Oh, I love the color." It was the same green as Harry's eyes.

"I thought that." My mother giggled, knowing exactly why I liked the color.

My face flushed, I had so hoped that she would stay focus on Ron and Hermione and forget all about me and Harry.

"Oh, Ginny, come on. I was young once as well." She giggled at my reaction.

"Yeah, I guess falling asleep in his arms wasn't the perfect way to hide things." I muttered.

"Or sleeping in the same bed." My mother said with her eyebrow raised at me. I was shocked.

"How…how…did you know?" I stuttered turning even redder than my hair.

"I know everything that's going on in my house." She said with a smile. She didn't look angry or upset about it. After seeing her reaction to the fact the Ron and Hermione were an item I was convinced that she would be angry at us if she ever found out that Harry and I had been sleeping in the same bed in her house, after just being back together for three days. I wondered briefly why her reaction to Ron and Hermione was so different than to me and Harry.

I sat there opening and closing my mouth like a fish on dry land, I just didn't know what to say.

My mother sighed and laid down her wand. She turned to me with a smile.

"Ginny, dear, I know why you spend the night with Harry. I wasn't sleeping well that night and I was awake. I heard you two talking. The house isn't really sound proof, you should know that. And besides you are almost off age, it's only natural that you are exploring things a bit further."

"Mom!." I shouted ashamed. She just giggled, it was like talking to one of those silly girls from school. All giggling when they asked me how it was to kiss the famous Harry Potter. Back then it had bothered me immensely, I was so unsure of Harry and his love for me, that I could have murdered every girl who eyed at him. Specially that Romilda Vane.

"Ginny, at some point we are going to have to talk about this." My mother said, trying very hard not to laugh at my horrified expression, "as you grow older your relation with Harry will change. The innocent reason behind it will disappear, and your mother doesn't want to become a grandmother from her youngest first."

I think I just died that moment. I so didn't want to hear those words. It remembered me of those annoying feelings I had when I was close to Harry. The feeling I decided I was too young to be even allowed to feel. And here my mother was telling me bright and happily that it was alright. That it was just normal. At that moment I really wondered if this really was the person who raised me. The one that had so much trouble with me even having a boyfriend.

I clearly remembered the fight we had two summers back when Ron told everyone I was dating, according to him five boys at the time. She wasn't to happy about it. I believe it was the first time my mother and I really had a fight.

Before she could continue her giggling lecture on responsibility I changed the subject.

"How was Harry this morning before he left?"

"What do you mean?" Mom asked subdued, she recognized quickly that I wasn't comfortable discussing the former topic and she decided to give up on it for now.

"Well, do you think he slept well last night? Was he depressed or happy?"

"Oh, that you mean. I don't know really, I didn't hear him last night and he looked happy this morning."

I nodded looking out over the garden, the sun was nice and warm. I was thinking about Harry, and how, besides from the nightmares he had two nights ago, he seemed happy and peaceful. I didn't expected that. I had expect him to linger on the lives that had been lost and on the pain the war had brought. I wondered if that had anything to do with the horcrux theory Hermione and I had come up with, but there was no way to be sure and I was to afraid to ask Harry about it. I didn't want him to think I didn't liked the happy Harry version.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" my mom interrupted.

"Harry." I muttered.

"What about him?"

"Just that he seems happy. Not that I don't want him happy, but I expected him to need some time to deal with everything that has happened."

"He might need some time later. He is now just enjoying the freedom and the fact that he doesn't have to be afraid any more. The dealing with the painful stuff might come later." My mom said wisely.

"Maybe, it's just that Harry isn't exactly the Harry I used to know. He is more open and happy. Besides the fact that I know he'd still do the guilty trip for the lives lost and pain ended, he is just different." I explained.

"Yes I have noticed as well, your father and I have been talking about it."

"What did dad say?"

"He thinks it's just the rush of defeating Voldemort that keeps him going now. Your father thinks Harry will need a lot of time and support to get through this once he realizes what really has happened."

"Oh. Hermione and I had an other theory."

"Really?" mom ask with mild interest.

"Yes, we were thinking about the horcrux that lived in Harry." I shuddered at the thought of something so foul and evil living in my Harry.

"What do you mean."

"Well, something so horrific must have had an influence on Harry, it must have effected his personality. With that gone maybe we are seeing the real Harry for the first time." I explained, "You have known his parents right? They say he looks much like his dad, how was his father to be with, like the old or the new Harry?"

"Oh, I don't know…" my mom thought for a minute. "I always thought he was a lot like Lily, sweet and patient, but I know he was very flammable with his anger. Now I think he is more like James but that can be just because of the looks. James was always carefree, always laughing, only when he had Harry he became more serious. Maybe your right, he has changed. If it's because of the horcrux, I don't know. You know him better then I do. Have you talked about it with him?"

"No, I don't want to have him think about those things just yet, maybe later."

"Yes, that might be better, for now just let's enjoy what we have. We will deal with problems when they appear." My mom said as she turned back to the dress she was making. I could see a tear running down her face and suddenly realized what her words meant for her, she thought about Fred. Maybe it was selfish of me to only think about Harry. My mother, father and brothers were of course still dealing with that loss as well.

Was it bad of me not to feel sad or like I have lost something? I missed Fred, there was no doubt about it that, with the holidays and special family things I would miss him even more, but I had a peaceful feeling when I thought of Fred. Like I knew he was alright, that he was in peace with his life and how it ended.

I hugged my mom to let her know that I was there for her, and that I knew what she was thinking.

I had been lazing in the sun, with my feet on a chair, for quiet a long time after my talk with my mother when I heard Ron and Hermione approaching.

"I can't believe their nerves." I heard Ron muttering.

I opened my eyes and squinted against the sun. Ron looked angry and Hermione a bit shocked.

"What's going on?" I called.

"What did you call it?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Paparazzi." She muttered.

"What's that?" I asked.

"In the muggle world they are photographers that hunt celebrities to get a good story or take a picture with which they can make a story up. I didn't even know that the wizarding world had them as well." She muttered angry.

"Photographers? What do they want?" I asked surprised.

"Harry of course." Ron said.

"Oh, Harry is so not going to like this when he gets back." Hermione muttered.

I knew Hermione was right, if there was one thing Harry feared it was attention, to be famous. I should have known, with him actually defeating the darkest wizard of all times, that the attention would increase. Not only at school but outside as well.

"Why can't I see them?" I wondered.

"I think the protection Kingsley have put up prevents them from entering the grounds around the house." Hermione answered.

"That make sense." I nodded.

Mom made us lunch and we sat outside in the sun while we were eating. Every two minutes I glanced at the gate to see if Harry was arriving. The longer he was away the more nervous I became. I didn't liked it that I didn't know where he was. The thought that he was with Kingsley was soothing but after sitting still for an hour I had enough.

Ron and Hermione were discussing her parents and a possible plan to get them back from Australia, and mom was busy in the kitchen so I got up and started to walk.

Pacing around the house actually. Time was passing so damn slowly. Agitated and annoyed with everything I sat down at the far side of the orchard, leaning my back against a three.

I sat there for a while with my eyes closed, wondering where Harry was and what he was discussing with Kingsley for so long. Getting his family home didn't take the whole morning. They probably were discussing the matter at hand, the escaped Death Eaters, the court trial against the Malfoy's, maybe even the protection around the Burrow. I was a bit annoyed with myself that I had slept so long and I couldn't be there, I wanted to know the things Harry was thinking about.

To stop myself from getting even more angry, I thought about the long summer holiday we had ahead. What would we do this holiday. For the last few years it had been, living in fear of an attack, a wedding, world cup, there had always been something. I hoped that this year it would be a happy quiet time. Maybe we could go somewhere and see something of the world.

My mind quickly came up with pictures of Harry and me alone on a sunny beach. I shuddered at the image, I wasn't sure it was out of fear of what might happen, my mothers words still echoing in my head, or out of anticipation of what might happen.

I quickly reeled myself in, there was no way we were going to be allowed to go on a vacation alone.

I giggled as my mind conjured up Ron and Hermione in that picture, I knew that even that wouldn't be allowed. The picture that formed with my family around us was annoying but I knew it was more safely. I really was afraid of my reactions when I was alone with Harry. I wasn't exactly sure if Harry felt the same way, but I knew that I was going to have a hard time being alone with Harry and not giving into my desires.

I was still a bit shocked by my mothers words, did she was think that sixteen was old enough to feel those strange feeling, to want to be even more close to Harry than we were while kissing?

I really did believe I was to young for any of that, as much as I liked that first image of a possible holiday alone with Harry, I was scared to even admit that I wanted it. It would have been a lot easier if I knew if Harry felt the same or not. If he wasn't feeling the same things it would hurt my self-esteem a bit, I admitted to myself, but then I would be able to contain those feelings and not act on them. If Harry did feel the same way, yes, than I would have a problem.

I snickered to myself. A problem, like we hadn't have problems enough the last few years. I would much, much rather face this one than any of the other problems.

I had to decide quickly what to do. I could give it out of my hands, I could let the decision to give in, in Harry's hands, after all if he didn't feel the desire burning like I did there was nothing for me to worry about.

I liked that idea a lot. Than and there I decided it was up to Harry, I let him take the lead in our relationship and in the mean time I would consider myself too young to desire more. Period.

But a holiday to some nice beach would be very welcome. Just to get away from the memories that lay here. I thought I should mention it tonight with diner.

Suddenly I heard footsteps approaching, I kept my eyes closed and slowly moved my hand towards my wand. I guess you could say that I was still a bit in a battle mode.

"I come in peace." A very familiar voice said.

"Harry!" I shouted as I opened my eyes.

"Hey." He said as he sat down next to him. I threw my arms around him and kissed him. The relieve I felt for having him back with me flowed through it. Harry snickered softly as he answered my kiss.

"I'm going away more often if this is how you welcome me home." He snickered again.

"I don't think so." I muttered, "you are staying here." And I grabbed his hand.

Harry laughed freely, I couldn't believe it, but he looked even more happy than he did yesterday after flying his broom.

"How was your day with Kingsley?" I asked now intrigued.

"Extraordinary. I think is the right word."

"Oh, what do you mean?"

"Well, we first went to get the Dursley's, that was quite eventful as they weren't so happy to leave."

"What?" I sputtered out.

Harry laughed, "Yes, they have been living somewhere remote in the countryside in a large beautiful kept house owned by a wizarding family. The Longbottom's."

"Neville's parents?"

"Yes, apparently Neville's grandmother gave Dumbledore her permission to hide them there, and they loved it. Even though my uncle wasn't happy with all the magic in the house, they liked it. They were sad to leave, we had to promise them to tell them the name of the area where they have living for a year before they agreed on leaving. It was all kept from them because they were scared the Dursley's would talk to the wrong people, while the stayed there. I think they want to go there for on vacation or something."

"Really?"

"Yes, the house was full of spells and all sorts of magic. Even the neighbors were wizards, and they just liked living there. I think it had a lot to do with the size of the house and the elf who was taking care of them."

I just could stare, the fact that the people who had rejected my world for so long even liked living in it was shocking?

Harry laughed at my expression again.

"Seriously I was as surprised as you are, my aunt didn't even mind the filthy towel the elf was wearing after she had seen his work, but the biggest surprise was to find out Dudley had a girlfriend, and she is a witch as well."

My mouth opened with a pop. My mind couldn't process it. It took a few laughs from Harry and a few minutes of me shaking my head before it was clear enough to talk.

"Seriously? Do we know her?"

"Yes, seriously. No, I didn't know her, her name is Lauri, and she is from Norway. Her parents moved here just a few months ago, her father is an auror and wanted to help with catching death eaters."

"Really?"

"Yes. Kingsley knew him though."

"That's…just…weird." I stuttered.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Dudley was bouncing around telling all about the things he had seen her do. He was gushing about how magical magic really was."

"Unbelievable." I whispered. That was all I could say. Unbelievable because of Dudley's one-eighty on magic, and unbelievable that there was a girl out there who would even like such a bully. Though I had never met him in person I couldn't believe it was someone nice, someone to fall in love with.

"What's she like?" I asked.

Harry laughed, "the perfect match for Dudley. She is small, pixie like, only long dark hair, and very gentle. She has him wrapped around her fingers. She can learn Dudley how to behave."

"Hmm…" I muttered as I thought about his story so far. It still sounded unbelievable.

"What else did you do, surely getting the Dursleys home didn't take that long?" I asked wanting him to continue.

"No after that, we went back to the ministry, to discus other things in private."

"Like what?"

"The issues with Gringotts, the escaped Death Eaters, future plans, annoying photographers around the house, almost everything we could think off."

"Will you tell me?" I asked in a whisper. I didn't want to pry on things he wanted to keep private. I hated the idea of him feeling the need to keep things private, even from me, but I could understand. Or at least try to understand.

"What do you want to know?"

What did I want to know? Everything of course. What girl didn't want to know everything her man was thinking and talking about when she wasn't there.

"Everything." I whispered and then looked up at him, "I would like to know what is on your mind."

Harry laughed at my careful answer.

"Ginny, you know what is on my mind, because it's mostly you." He answered with a laugh, than turned serious again, but I just felt a lot lighter. His comment meant so much to me.

"Ok I'll tell you everything you want to know. Kingsley has arranged a meeting with the boss of Gringotts. Because of our little stunt there, Ron, Hermione and I aren't considered good clients any more, but they are willing to hear our part of the story and continue to do business. So Kingsley arranged for us to have a meeting next week."

"That's good. At least that problem will be solved than."

"Yes, but I don't think they will ever trust us again." Harry said gravely

"Are you sad about that?"

"Yes and no, yes because I hate there reason why they won't trust me, but no because I don't particular like the goblins."

"What else?" I urged him to continue telling about his day.

"The photographers…When Kingsley picked me up here this morning they were already there. We had to jinx our way through them." Harry snickered at the memory. "I used your bat-bogey hex, I'm not nearly half as good as you in that one, but it was effective non the less."

"Ron and Hermione had to deal with them as well." I told him.

"I have heard about that. Kingsley has offered us guards that will accompany us when we go out but I refused. I didn't want anyone drawing even more attention to us, so he had the ministry arrange a space within the grounds we can use to apparate. It will be guarded by an auror but it will be useful for us."

"And what when we are going out?"

"We are free to hex them, Kingsley is writing a law that would keep them away from us, but until that passes we are free to chase them away." Harry shrugged. The idea of jinxing them didn't bother him, that much was clear.

"Hermione called them paparazzi or something." I told him. Harry had to laugh at that.

"Yes, that's exactly what they are. I don't think they will leave us alone completely, but at least this will help a bit."

"Will we be leaving this place a lot than?" I asked, thinking about my wish for a sunny beachside holiday.

"We might, even though I love it here, after a year of traveling I think staying here every day will get boring."

"Do you have places in mind where you want to go to?"

"Not many, I really want to visit Gordic's Hollow again, in peace this time, and I need to buy some new clothes but besides that I don't really have plans yet." Harry said, while his hand ran through my hair. Suddenly he looked at me again.

"Did you have something in mind?" he asked.

Oh man, I blushed bright red when he asked that. The images of us on a sunny beach, the ones where we were alone, were in my mind again. I tried to hide behind my hair, hoping that my face wouldn't betray my thoughts.

"Ginny?" Harry pressed.

"I…I was thinking…" I tailed off.

"Yes?"

I took a deep breath, working very hard to chase the offensive images away before I answered.

"I was thinking maybe it would be nice to go on a summer holiday. I would love to spend some time just being lazy on some sunny beach."

Harry thought about my words for a second, his eyes always on my face.

"Hmm, that would indeed be very nice. Did you know, I never really been on a holiday before?"

"Really?"

"Yes, the Dursleys never went on holiday, at least not to a sunny faraway beach. I really like that idea, Ginny." He said happily.

Suddenly I heard my mom calling.

"Ginny, Harry, dinner is ready! Are you two coming in to eat?"

I sighed, I could have sat here with Harry for days, but it was already getting colder and the twilight fell.

"Come on, let's eat." I muttered as I got up. Before I managed to get onto my feet Harry pulled me down again. Wrapping his arms around me, holding me very close.

"Ginny, I should have said it more times already, but I love you." He whispered and kissed me in away I had never experienced before, it was a deep kiss full of passion, love and desire. The one that made my heart race and blushed my face. Also the kind of kiss that stirred the carefully looked up lustful feelings. In other words, it left me breathless.

When Harry pulled away we were both gasping for air. Pulling me even closer to him, Harry kissed my hair a few times. When I was finally able to breath normally again I leaned away so I could look at him.

"I love you too, Harry. With all my heart."

Harry bent down again, this time kissing me softly.

"After dinner I'll tell you about the Death Eaters and the plans I have talked about with Kingsley." Harry promised me, "let's get inside before Ron eats everything."

I nodded and walked back to the house with him. My head still spinning from that kiss.


	9. The Werewolf

_**I'm sorry once more for the long period I have waited with up loading... I really hope this chapter makes up for that period. **_

_**note: Thanx to all of you who have reviewed, some send me personal posts, I still have to work through them, I'm a bit behind with everything**_

_**Please, Review...**_

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**Chapter 9. The Werewolf**

"Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes Harry."

"When wizarding families plan to go on holiday, how do they arrange that?"

"Oh…are you thinking about going somewhere?" my mom asked.

"Ginny and I thought it would be nice to have a change of scenery. Just some time away from it all." Harry stated calmly. I'd rather wished that he would tell her that the whole family would go, because there was no way that my mother would let us go alone. Harry recognized the signs on my mothers face immediately, her lips pressed in a thin line and her eyes wary.

"I'm thought we all could go somewhere warm and sunny." He explained. My mom exhaled loudly and my dad laughed silently at her reaction.

"Where would you like to go to, Harry?" my dad asked, pulling the attention away from my mom's ridiculous reaction.

"I really don't know yet, we could go South, to Devon to the beach, but I'd rather go somewhere where they don't recognize me immediately. I'm open to suggestions."

"Oh, it would be so nice to go to Spain or the Canary Islands." Hermione said excited. She was bouncing in her chair at the idea.

"Yes something like that." Harry agreed.

"Seriously, going somewhere outside the country?" Ron muttered. We had only ever been to Egypt, it had been amazing. We didn't go on holiday often, it was always a source of tension because of the finances. Ron knew it as well, I could guess he was remembering the heated discussion about it as well. All plans were wonderful but with out finances it would fall through no matter what. I felt my heart sink as my mom opened her mouth to state the obvious.

"Harry, we would love to go on a holiday to a sunny warm country but we simply don't have the money to do that, not with everybody."

"That won't be an issue." Harry stated, his voice told me it was already a done deal and that there was no discussion possible.

"Harry, that's very generous of you, but we can't take that." My father said to him.

"I wasn't offering, consider it as a 'thank you' for what you have done for me and a small repayment for all the summers I have spend here the last seven years."

It was silent for a few seconds, my dad and Harry looking at each other, I was praying for my parents to approve of this plan for the summer.

"Are you serious about this, Harry?" my dad asked.

"Yes, of course. I have been thinking for ages about how to do something back for all the support you gave me. This should be a nice start." Harry smiled.

"It would be really welcome." My mom muttered.

"But how does things like these get arranged in the wizarding community?" Harry asked again, now pressing his point as he sensed victory.

"Oh, well that's quite easy. When we went to visit Charlie he arranged a house for us to stay in, we only had to get a portkey to the place. If you want to go somewhere we don't know anyone we have to get a hotel room or a bungalow." My mom told him.

"How….?"

"There is a travel agent that specializes in wizards, how to travel and their housing during the holiday, in London close to the ministry for Magic, I can pick up brochures tomorrow after work for you." My dad told him.

"That would be brilliant." Harry nodded.

"Are you serious? Are we really going to do this?" Ron asked Harry smiling from ear to ear.

"Yes."

Hermione and Ron both squealed loudly. Almost dancing around the table. My mom was smiling softly, it made me wonder were her thoughts had gone. Probably to some place sunny.

"We should come up with some ideas of where to go to, we can't ask dad to bring all the brochures." I whispered to Harry. He nodded.

The rest of our dinner time was spend discussing the possible countries and places we all wanted to see. I really didn't care as long as Harry was there, but Ron and Hermione had opinions about it. I could tell from Harry's reactions to their wishes that he really didn't care as well, as long as it was in an other country.

We decided that dad would bring brochures of Spain, Italy and the Canary islands. Neither of us had been in these countries before.

After dinner Ron, Harry and my dad headed outside, just to sit and talk. I briefly wondered if Harry had forgotten his promise, but when he left the kitchen he turned to me and winked. He mouthed the words, "we'll talk later, okay?". I smiled at him and nodded.

Mom was busy doing laundry, and ordered me and Hermione to clean up the dishes.

Hermione was silent while she waved her wand around the kitchen. When I looked up at her to talk about the location for the holiday she suddenly looked so sad, like she was fighting back tears.

"Hermione? Do you want to talk about it?" I asked in a soft whisper.

She looked up, blinking furiously to keep away the tears.

"Oh, I was just thinking about my parents."

"What about them?"

"I just miss them, I don't know how to get them back here, if it's the right thing to do." She whispered softly, her breathing irregular with her attempt not to cry.

"Could you lift the spell you put on them that made them forgot you?" I asked, while I hugged her.

"Yes, I think so, but how could I explain everything, they have been gone for an whole year?"

"You could always tell the truth, they would understand."

"I don't know, they will understand the majority but I'm afraid they will be scared of my powers if I do that."

"I don't think that will be a problem, Hermione. You are one of the most talented witches ever, they knew that, right?" I asked, she nodded, looking down at her feet.

"Than they will understand that their smart girl was fighting very hard to protect them. They will understand that you were thinking about their safety." I finished.

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course."

"But how to get them back? How will I ever be able to find them?"

"That's easy." I told her.

"What do you mean?"

"Just tell Harry about your thoughts, he would be able to get his connections working. He could ask Kingsley to look into it."

"Would he do that?"

"Are you seriously asking? This is Harry we are talking about, remember." I laughed as I shook my head. Hermione was silent for a few seconds, staring out the window. I could tell she was thinking things through, probably still wondering if it was the right thing to do.

"Hermione?" I asked as I took a deep breath, I lay my hand on her shoulder, "do you want your parents to be there when you, someday, will get married? Do you want them there when they become grandparents?"

She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.

"So, what is holding you back?"

She looked up at me, opening her mouth to say something but closing it at again without making a sound. For a few seconds she just stared at me, her face unreadable, suddenly her face became determined, she had made her decision.

"You're right, I want them back here." She said with a smile, "let's finish this and we will be able to ask Harry."

With Hermione waving her wand around there wasn't much for me to do, so I sat back and watched Hermione work. She was even quicker than my mother, within five minutes everything was clean and back in place. Looking satisfied Hermione turned and indicated we should go outside as well.

It was really peaceful in the garden, Hermione had sat herself between Rob and Harry and I had sat down on the grass leaning against Harry's knees. The men were still talking about the aftermath of the war, but I wasn't really paying attention, I really didn't want to hear stories about families who had lost so much. I felt Harry running his fingers through my hair, just playing with it. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the peace. This could last for ever and I wouldn't get bored.

The chatting continued for most of the evening, my mom eventually joined us. Hermione asked Harry if he could do her the favor of asking Kingsley if he would be able to help getting her parents home. Of course Harry said, yes, I wouldn't expect anything less from him.

It was getting late when I felt the change in atmosphere, I started to feel restless, my hands starting to itch and I had the constant feeling I needed my wand. I wasn't sure if the others felt it as well, I looked around my family, all of them looked relaxed. I was starting to think it was just me, but when I looked up at Harry I saw the same tension in his eyes.

He was scanning the fields around the house, his fingers already around his wand. He noticed me looking at him, so when I raised my eyebrow in a silent question he nodded.

Something was happening.

I felt for my wand, it was laying next to me on the grass. Grabbing it tightly I looked around as well. There wasn't much to see, it was getting dark and it was a large area to cover. Harry squeezed my right shoulder, like a nudge. When I looked up I saw his eyes staring intensely to the forest at the right side of the house. I followed his gaze, and saw the air shimmering there.

Suddenly Harry got up.

"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry whispered.

"Yes, Harry."

"Could you please get some more water for us?" he asked, effectively getting my mom out of the line of fire. My dad, of course, noticed the tight sound of Harry's voice.

"Harry, what's going on?" He whispered. Harry nodded towards the forest he had been watching. My dad turned to look and grabbed his wand. Suddenly we were all positioned and ready for battle.

Every one of us strained our eyes and ears to get a idea of what was going on. There were no sounds and besides the shimmering in the air there was nothing to see.

"Hermione, Ron, go around the house, watch each others back, move slowly. Check the area." Harry whispered. They both nodded and backed up slowly. Harry indicated me to the right side of him.

"Ginny stay to my right, I want to know where you are." He whispered.

"Harry?" my dad asked.

"I can't hear them, yet."

"Who?" my dad whispered.

But before Harry could answer a patronus in the shape of a dog ghosted over the field towards us.

"_we are under attack, can't hold them off_." The words rushed out of it's mouth.

"We need to help them." I urged Harry. He nodded and indicated we should move. When we walked past the house Ron and Hermione joined us.

"There's nothing there." Ron whispered.

Harry nodded, "the left side please." He told Ron and Hermione. I wasn't particular happy with this line up, Harry took the front and that made him venerable for attacks. I was a bit surprised to see Harry order everyone around like that, but I trusted him. I trusted that he had learned enough the last year to know what he was doing. Hermione and Ron didn't questioning him either and did what Harry asked them to do.

When we reached the edge of the forest, Harry stopped.

"This is where the protection ends. Mr. Weasley could you send word to Kingsley and tell him what's going on. We might need his help."

My dad muttered the incantation and his patronus left the field with blinding speed.

"Ready?" Harry breathed. We all nodded. Harry took the first step and disappeared behind the security curtain. We all quickly followed.

I expected chaos on the other side, but surprisingly it was quiet. A tense silence hang in these trees. Taking up battle position again we moved forwards. Following Harry's lead.

For a minute or two everything was silent, it looked like the battle had already ended, when suddenly a loud cry of pain shattered the night sky. We all turned towards the sound, it sounded like someone was being tortured.

We moved slowly and as silent as possible, using the cover of darkness to stay unnoticed. After just a few steps Harry held up his hand and urged us to stop. He pointed to a small area in front of us. Two dark cloaked people were standing over a man wearing the ministry for magic sign.

"I know you are here to protect him, but are you ready to give up your sanity for him." One of the dark cloaked men hissed. Hermione gasped softly.

"That's Greyback." She whispered. I too, had recognized his menacing voice. Harry didn't show any sign that he had heard Hermione, his total concentration was with the scene in front of us.

Ron nudged him softly and pointed to something to the left, two more dark cloaked and hooded figures stood in the shadow and watched the scene. Harry nodded and pointed to the right were we saw two more. They looked really sinister, we couldn't see their eyes but all of them were wearing this smirk around their lips, they were enjoying the sight in front of them.

"I don't care about my sanity, you won't lay a finger on Harry Potter or the Weasleys." The auror hissed back.

"hmm…maybe you should care, I can imagine your kid when he visits you, how he would look if you can't recognize him any more." the werewolf replied.

The auror flinched and it made Greyback laugh.

"See, there is no reason not to cooperate."

He raised his wand and pointed it directly to the head of the auror. I wanted to look away, I didn't want to see this but I couldn't pull my eyes away from the scene. It was sickening.

"Enough!" Harry suddenly shouted, it made us all jump. His face was contorted with anger. He stepped forwards and raised his wand, and slashed it down in a single movement.

The wand Greyback and the man next to him were holding flew up in the air and exploded. We all gasped, we had assumed Harry was just disarming him but this was different, I had never seen a wand explode with a disarming spell.

More shockingly Greyback fell to his knees, and the wizard next to him followed quickly. It looked like they were blasted backwards by Harry's spell.

"Harry." Hermione whispered in a soft groan, but he didn't react. He moved forward looking at Greyback. His wand pointed at the two man.

"Ah, Harry, I hoped you would come, I have some payback to do with you."

"I couldn't think of any, you are just a lone wolf, in my eyes." Harry spat angry, "A wolf pathetic enough to attack under the cover of darkness, two against one."

"That were the orders." Greyback shrugged.

"by whom?"

"My master."

"To bad, your master is dead, wolf, incase you haven't noticed I finished him. Now you are alone." Harry hissed, he was really, really, really angry. The sound he was making was most frightening. I had never heard Harry talk like that, it scared the hell out of me.

"You are wrong, little boy." Greyback indicated to the cloaked figures around him.

"Yes, I have noticed them." Harry admitted.

"And you are willing to walk in their midst?"

"They don't frighten me any more. They are puppets, following your orders. The orders of a dead master and a lone wolf."

I suddenly understood why the wizards hadn't moved yet, why they were wearing that vacant smirk on their face, they were under the imperius curse.

I saw the werewolf twitch his fingers, it almost looked like a sign, but I wasn't really sure until I saw the four remaining wizards raising their wands.

"Stupefy." I whispered and pointed my wand to the one closest to Harry. I knew instinctually that Harry counted on us preventing the others from interfering. Ron, Hermione and dad followed my actions. The cloaked figures all froze in place.

The werewolf looked at his companions for a few seconds.

"Ah, you are not alone." He hissed.

"No, of course not."

"Ah…did you bring the lovely red-head, I've been dying to see if she taste even better than her brother." Greyback purred. Harry stiffened in response, I could see him taking deep breaths to calm down.

"I don't think that will be possible for you any more, as you are now at _my_ merci." Harry almost growled.

"You don't scare me."

"I finished your master, you know what I'm capable off, and to threaten my family…" Harry shook his head, never taking his eyes of the man that was still kneeling in front of him.

Suddenly I heard a soft sound behind us, full of adrenaline I turned around quickly, raising my wand again.

"It's ok, Ginny." the deep voice of Kingsley whispered.

"Show yourself." I hissed, I didn't trust the whole situation. It could be an imposter or worse a Death Eater. Kingsley quickly stepped into the light.

"Really, Ginny, it's ok." He whispered.

My dad stepped between us, his wand raised and looking intensely at Kingsley.

"What were the last words Dumbledore told me?" my dad asked him. It was a kind of code word, every member of the order of the phoenix had to answer the same question and for every one it was a different answer.

"That you have to have faith in Harry, he knows what to do." Kingsley answered.

My dad smiled and nodded, I guess I have to trust my dad's judgments. I smiled an apology to Kingsley and turned quickly. I wanted to see how Harry was doing.

The scene hadn't changed much, except for the fact that the auror was now back on his feet. Harry was still breathing heavy, and quivering in anger. Greyback was smirking at him, I could guess he had said something insulting to Harry.

"They won't stay free for long." Harry whispered.

"Long enough to either kill or infect every person you want to safe, starting with the red-head family."

"I'd like to see them try, but why would they even listen to you, in a few seconds you be on your way to be locked up forever, you are powerless now." Harry menaced.

"Locked up forever, huh… where in your basement?" Greyback spat.

"That won't be necessary, I have a very nice place reserved specially for you." Kingsley said as he stepped out of the shadows. This time it was Greyback who was shuddering, I could guess for once he was truly frightened.

"You are lucky Harry kept you alive, I would have killed you, after insulting my girl and her family like that." Kingsley told him.

"It's good to see you are able to control your anger, Harry, it would be so useful when you start your training that we don't have to focus on that first." Kingsley mused.

'_Start your training?'_ What did that mean?

Harry nodded, still totally focus on Greyback.

"The escort will be here in a few seconds, we'll take him away, Harry." Kingsley told him, Harry just nodded again.

"What about the other five?" Harry asked. The man who had been kneeling next to Greyback hadn't said anything and had looked down, but now he looked up, to see what was in store for him. I was shocked to see that he didn't look much older than me, maybe a year or two, or the same age as Harry. How could someone so young do things so stupidly wrong.

"They will go to Azkaban, the auror's office has re-established the safety of that place, they will keep them busy there until they have their trail day." Kingsley answered.

"Standard procedures?" Harry smiled a bit.

"Yes, I'm sure you'll be bored with them before Christmas."

What? No! Suddenly the reality came crashing down, I knew now what Kingsley had meant with the words '_start your training'_. Harry wasn't coming with me to Hogwarts after the summer, Harry was going to London and be an auror.

I gasped loudly enough for Harry to look up. Shock flittered over his face as he realized that I knew.

"Ginny, no. It's not like that." He whispered as he turned to me.

"Why didn't you tell me." I whispered, my voice thick with the pain that was ripping through me.

"I was going to, but I didn't had the chance, yet."

I started to walk backwards, I could feel the eyes of the others burning, everybody was looking at me. I didn't want to deal with this now, not after the frightening moments we just had, not after it was only days ago I saw Harry dead.

"Not now…" I whispered and shook my head. I turned and ran back home, away from the pain.

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_Please don't forget to tell me what you think of this chapter..._


	10. Manly excuses and girly talk

_**OMG I had so much fun writing this chapter...I could have writen it twice as long but I cut it short here, because that leaves fun for the next chapter...**_

_**I hope you all will enjoy this as much as I do...**_

_**Thanx for all the reviews...I'm enjoying them very much...I hope this time we'll hit the 60...**_

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**10. Manly excuses and girly talk**

I knew when crossed the safety shield, because I saw my mother outside, looking around her. Her expression terrified.

"Ginny!" she screamed when she saw me running towards the house. "What happened, where are they?"

I skidded to a halt next to her, I couldn't just walk past her without explaining what had happened.

"There was an attack, Greyback and a few others, everything is alright now, Harry and Kingsley have things under control." I spitted Kingsleys name out, I was even more angry with him than I was with Harry. He was the one who offered Harry the job, he was the one who was taking Harry away from me.

"What do you mean an attack?"

"The guards around the house, some of the Death eaters wanted to get through to us, they attacked the guard when they couldn't find us." I rushed.

"How…Why…" my mom stuttered.

"Dad and Harry will explain. I just want to go…" it was all I could manage before tears started to fill my eyes.

"Ginny? What is wrong?" my mom asked

"I…I really just… want to go." I turned away and ran upstairs.

I cried for what felt like hours, hidden under my sheets.

_How could he do this to me?_ It was the only question that was ruling my head. As if it wasn't enough to realize that the outside world wasn't yet safe, that we still had t deal with danger, and he just threw everything I was sure about out of the window. I had been so sure he wanted to be with _me _at Hogwarts, just to be together. Starting our life as a couple, like we should, in the last year of our education.

From the moment I knew that this was _the_ plan for next year I had been fantasizing about it. Dreaming about walking hand in hand around the lake, hiding behind Hagrid's house to make out, making all the other girls jealous as he would kiss me after we won a match. Somehow, somewhere today that dream got splintered and in that process it ripped me apart. I was going to loose him again and I wasn't sure if I could handle it a second time.

I just didn't know what to do, I didn't know what I felt, I couldn't deal with it. It was just to much, that dream ripped apart after what we had been through was tearing open holes in my chest.

After a long time of crying I was to exhausted and fell asleep.

Nightmares ruled my head.

I dreamt the most ridiculous but most scary dream I ever had. I was back at school and the fight was still going on, I was fighting next to Harry and every time I looked over at him he changed into an other person, every person I have ever hated, telling me that school was for wimps and that I was one of them. Every time the face changed I begged my enemies to kill these people, and it happened. A large pile of dead faces started to form in front of me, the one more horrific than the other. Then again I heard the words "_school is only for stupid people, it's where you belong._" and I begged again to please kill the person next to me. Those words hurt like hell and I wanted it to end. So when I looked down to see who was it that had been killed this time, who had spoken those hurtful words…I woke up…completely startled.

"No…no… that never…" I whispered to myself. My body was quivering and my heart was racing, that last image of my dream lingered behind my eyes, I couldn't push it away.

"I'm sorry, so sorry, I should have told you." I heard Harry's voice whisper. I froze instantly. His arms were wrapped around me, my head laying against his chest.

Suddenly I broke down, everything that had happened over the last year was becoming too much, too heavy to bear. Thinking I would never see Harry again, seeing Harry back at Hogwarts, seeing Harry dead, seeing Harry alive, realizing Harry would stay at school with me, planning a summer holiday, realizing Harry won't be with me next year, and now the dream. The dream in which I begged them to kill Harry.

I cried uncontrollably, shaking and shivering, not even caring that I was supposed to be the strong one.

Harry let me cry, he just stroke my hair. I didn't know if he wasn't sure what to say, if he had nothing to say or if he let me get it out first. He just let me be.

After about fifteen minutes I calmed down a bit. Harry's continues stroking my hair and shoulders felt soothing, and it pushed the images of the dream away.

I suddenly remembered that I shared my room with Hermoine and shot up.

"Hermione?" I whispered.

"She's with Ron, your mom thought it would be better I'd stay with you until you woke up. She knew you were really upset. So she told Hermione to sleep in my room, but I heard her sneak upstairs a while ago." Harry answered.

"Mom knows what is going on in her house." I whispered.

"I know, but she'll can't really do anything about it. They are adults now."

I tried to blink away my tears so that I could see his face but they were still flowing.

I silently waited for Harry to confirm what I already knew but it stayed silent for a long time, like Harry was waiting for me to say something. When he realized that I couldn't say anything about it he took a deep breath.

"Ginny, I'm sorry." He whispered, and I tensed, waiting for the final blow that would shatter my idea of a happy normal year at school. A small gasp escaped my mouth.

"shhh, Ginny, let me explain my plans first."

"Okay…" I whimpered.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about these plans this way, I should have told you right away. I'm going to be at Hogwarts next school year, I'm going to stay with you as much as I can."

"but…" I asked.

"But, Kingsley offered me a place in the auror trainings program, and I excepted it…under certain conditions."

"like?" I couldn't leave the sarcasm out of my voice.

"Like, I will stay at Hogwarts, I will live there, finish my NEWTS and stay with you, Ron and Hermione. I don't really have a place to live anyway, I could go to Grimmauld place but I really don't want to. I really want a peaceful year at Hogwarts, like every school going teenager has the right too. Nothing to fear, just to enjoy."

"But won't you be away all the time?"

"No, it won't be like a normal auror training, Kingsley thinks I have proven myself enough to join up right now, but I think I need more training, so this training will be adapted to what I still need to learn, Kingsley will personally train me, and it will only be two days a week while we are at school."

"So you'll be with me next school year?" I asked, I just had to, I still felt so much doubt.

"Yes, for as much time as possible. I really do want a normal year at school before I'm to old to enjoy it."

I laughed at his words, sure Hogwarts would still take him if he was eighty.

"Won't you be studying like crazy?" I asked.

"We both will be spending a lot of time studying, but that's just an other thing we could do together."

I nodded, I really liked that idea but I didn't want to get my hopes up, he would still be away a lot. I lay in Harry's arms for a while, just thinking about the next school year. About how I hoped we really would be spending time together next year, but also about how Harry was already planning his future, something I hadn't even dared to think about. Suddenly Harry brought me back to the present.

"Ginny, I'm really sorry, I should have told you first. This really wasn't the way I wanted you to know." He murmured in my hair.

I sighed, I knew he was telling the truth, but it still hurt a bit. I just couldn't understand why he couldn't wait one year before starting his future. One year of peace and quiet, was that so much to ask.

"I know, Harry, I know…"

"But?" he pressed as he heard my hesitation.

"Why don't you just wait a year? Why can't you have one year of peace?" I asked, my voice a bit sharper than usual, the pain was still slipping through.

"I would if I thought it was save."

"What do you mean?" I interrupted.

"Well, your family, Hermione and I will be one of the most hated people in the world as you look through the eyes of dark wizards. Death eaters we failed to catch and other supporters of Riddle's ideas will want revenge. You saw it today. I just think the auror training will give me an extra edge, I think it will make me able to defend myself and you better."

I looked up, my eyes wide with surprise. It was dark in the room but the moonlight was enough for me to make out his face. I saw that he was smiling down at me.

"All I care about is your safety, and I know all you care about is mine, I saw this as the only solution." He explained.

I pushed up and kissed him with all the love I had for him. I should have realized that what ever Harry did it was always for others and never for himself.

After a short second of surprise Harry answered my kiss with just as much love. One of his hands was still in my hair and the other sneaked around my waist and rested on my back. I parted my lips a bit inviting him to do the same. My tongue darted out on its own accord softly tracing his lips. My hand slid over Harry's arm, tracing his muscles, the other roamed over his chest.

We had kissed like this many times before but this time it felt different, there was more passion and a lot more love between us. It made the air around us hum with electricity. I shivered as the passion toke over my brain and I gasped for air. Not for the first time I felt like I needed him even more than this.

I had the feeling Harry felt this passion, this need as well because he pulled me even closer. I couldn't think clearly anymore, I couldn't remember why I had objected against these feelings, all that roamed my head was the feeling of his muscles under my hands and his soft lips hungrily kissing mine.

Harry pulled back before we could get into it too much, but instead of let me lay down against his chest again he pulled me even closer and hold me there for a while. I slowly came down from the haze that had ruled my mind, the passion filled fog that clouded all my believes and limitations I had set for myself. I remembered deciding that I would leave the pace of our intimacy up to Harry, but now I got the suspicion that he might want to move at same pace my body seemed to beg for.

Growing up and being intimate with someone was complicated, _how did you know you were ready for it? _Still, I was grateful that Harry had pulled away, I felt it showed that we both weren't really ready for that next step.

As I silently mauled this over, Harry rested his lips on my forehead and stayed there.

"I just can't believe this is all real." Harry whispered after a few seconds.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I pulled back to look at his face.

"I'm afraid that this is all a dream, that I will wake up and that I'm still in the tent. That I'm still lost."

"I feel the same, a bit at least." I whispered.

"You do?"

"Yes, I'm still scared that one day I wake up and not finding you at the table or next to me. That we don't know where you are."

"Was that the hardest part for you, not knowing where we were?" Harry asked

"Yes, but it was more than that, rumors were flying around, one second we were told you were dead, then that you had been captured, I was never ready to believe it but as time went by we started to hear less rumors it started to get quiet. I lived every evening in fear that I would fall asleep and wake up to the news that I had been fearing the most. Every night I prayed for some sign or some bit of news that would tell us that you were alright."

Harry looked at me for a few seconds and softly kissed me, when he pulled back he asked.

"How did you cope?" his voice low with emotion.

"Not really well," I sighed, "At school we had some distraction, we did everything to make sure you and Dumbledore's spirit lingered at school, but when I was forced to stay at home…it was a nightmare. Everybody was tense, we just did nothing but hoping for good news."

I looked at him, remembering those days like it was only yesterday.

"Good news came." I continued, "or at least positive rumors. Dad told us that there were rumors about you being at the Lovegood house. At least that told us you weren't dead or captured yet."

"That's how you stayed sane? Living on rumors?"

"Yes, what else was there to do, I wasn't going to give up hope." I answered.

Harry smiled at that, pulling me in a strong hug again.

"How about you, what was the worst part of it for you?" I asked in a small voice, I wasn't sure if he was ready to answer this one.

"Also the not knowing. I knew roughly where you were, I still had the map so I checked on you quite a lot actually, we also had the painting of Headmaster Black with us, he told us about what you were up to at school and of course Bill told us you were alright. So I didn't live in constant fear that you would be gone without me knowing about it. I worried about you a lot but I had to stay focused on the task Dumbledore gave us. The problem was I didn't know what it was exactly."

"Can you explain that?" I whispered.

"Dumbledore left us vague stories, the things from his will, nothing matched up to what he had personally told me. I just didn't know what to do or where to go. Ron, Hermione and I traveled around the country doing nothing but trying to figure out what these clues could possibly mean. What I had the hardest time dealing with was that I knew as long as I didn't figure this out people would continue to die."

"You know nobody blames you for not being able to stop him the day they attacked the ministry."

"I know, but still it's the hardest thing to cope with, I made mistakes that had cost us a lot of time and with that lives."

I sat up and pulled him into my arms, I knew that this confession had been so hard for him. I knew that he would feel this weight for a long time but I was determined not to let it stand in the way of his happiness.

"We have some strange months behind us." Harry sighed.

"I couldn't agree more, it feel like we have lived in a orb or something. So cut off from what live should be."

Harry nodded, we both knew that it would take time to really feel alive again.

"I don't think we can even say we want everything to be back to normal." I thought out loud.

"How so?"

"Well, normal means that you would still be hunted and that there is still fear for a certain dark wizard. We both don't know anything else."

Harry nodded, from what I could see he looked thoughtful. He was silent for a long time, stroking my hair and staring out the window.

"What are you thinking?" I asked after ten minutes.

"oh…about how strange everything will be. You are right, we don't know anything else, I was wondering how difficult it would be to adapt to this new life."

"I don't know, do you find it difficult to be back here, locked up in a house?" I worried.

"No! Ginny, no. Never think that. I love it here, it's the only place I feel really at home, and I won't miss the camping either. Whenever we go on holiday, we won't be going in a tent, I have seen the inside of a tent enough to last me a life time."

I laughed at that, "So dad has to bring hotel brochures with him tomorrow."

"Definitely."

We both laughed a bit. It was strange that we could go from being so serious to laughing with just a few words. It had always been that way between us, when Harry felt down I cheered him up and when I felt down he cheered me up. Somehow I could imagine that it will always be that way. Comfortable, knowing what the other need.

I stifled a yawn and looked out of the window, it must have been the middle of the night.

"Do you have anything planned early in the morning?" I asked as I yawned again.

"No, why?"

"Because I think it's already way past midnight and you look tired."

Harry just nodded, he got the hint and slid down under my blankets. I turned so I could lay comfortable in his arms.

"Is mom angry with me?" I asked as I ran through the last few hours in my head.

"No, why should she?"

"Well I just ran past her without much explanation of where everybody was and what had happened."

"No, she wasn't angry with you. I told her what happened, why you were so upset. Ginny, she understands that when things change it will be hard on both of us. She know that there is so much that is going to change."

I sighed and relaxed, I had started to feel guilty about the way I left my mom in her panic. I curled myself up in Harry's arms even more, it felt so good to lay in his arms.

"Hmm, you know, I could get used to sleeping in your arms." I whispered as I closed my eyes.

"Me too but I'm not sure your mom would agree."

"Why not, it's not like we are doing anything." I muttered. I actually managed to sound frustrated about that fact. Harry's breath hitched for a second, than he breathed out slowly. He didn't comment on my words but I had the feeling he was thinking quite hard about them. I wasn't sure if I was ready to start that discussion and I sure wasn't going to be the one who would bring it up.

After a while Harry kissed me goodnight and we fell asleep, both not ready to talk about it. My dreams were a lot more peaceful and almost blissfully happy. I don't know what it was but my body and brain felt much more calm when Harry was close by.

~O~

When I woke up I found Harry still next to me, already awake and smiling down at me.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked.

"Yes, like I said I could get so used to sleeping in your arms, it like your presence is calming my brain. I don't know what it is." I said sleepy.

"Ginny…about what you said last night…" Harry started, it woke me up quite harsh.

"Harry, don't worry about it." I cut him off, I wasn't up for difficult discussions in the morning. I needed a shower and some food first.

"If you want to, but I think we have to talk about it at some point." He whispered.

I turned to him in time to see him blushing almost as much as I could. It wasn't often that Harry blushed but now his face was turning red and he quickly changed the subject.

"I haven't planned anything for today, shall we go for a walk after breakfast, I can fill you in on the rest that had happened yesterday."

"Yes, but I need a shower first." I said. Harry started to get out of the bed but I pulled him back down.

"You're not leaving here without kissing me." I murmured against his lips. He smiled softly as he kissed me back. After a few minutes of soft but passionate kissing Harry pulled back and smiled down at me.

"I'm going to get changed, I'll see you downstairs." He said. With another soft kiss he was gone. I stayed in my bed for few minutes, catching my breath. Our kisses were becoming more passionate every time we kissed and they left me breathless.

Before I could think about things too much I hopped out of bed and grabbed my stuff to take a shower. The shower didn't take as long as I liked, apparently I was the last to shower and hot water was limited. I could have made the water warm again but as I wasn't yet off-age I'd rather not risk it and get my mom angry.

With my hair wrapped in a towel and clad in my bathrobe I made my way back to my bedroom and opened my closet. On the inside of the door was a full length mirror, I had asked my mom and dad for it the year I started school, I wanted to know what I looked like. Not just my face but the whole picture.

I smiled at the memory of the day I got this mirror. I had stood in front of it the whole day, my school robes on and wondering if the famous Harry Potter would like me, wondering if I was pretty enough for him.

I now realized that it had been one of the two times I really looked into it. The other day was when my mom and I bought my first dress robes. I just had to see what it looked like on me. Now, I stood here in my bathrobe and wondered what I looked like now. I knew my face of course, but I hadn't seen the whole picture in at least three years, normally I just look down to see if clothes still fit or my mom would tell me if they were to short. I know, it isn't really girly of me but being raised in a house full of boys didn't help developing a girly side.

This time I really wanted to know, I wanted to see what Harry saw when he looked at me.

I took a deep breath and stepped in front of the mirror. I don't know why but I was afraid of what it would show. I didn't even knew what to hope for. I opened my eyes and started at my legs, I was surprised to see that they were still slim. They looked long. As my eyes worked their way up I noticed my body had changed in the last three year quite drastically. I had curves now. I knew that of course, my mom had bought me bra's when she though the time was right and they had fitted nicely but I didn't knew my curves were like this.

I pulled off my bathrobe and stared at my naked body. I looked like a woman. I stared at myself for a long time, I really couldn't believe what I saw.

"Ginny! Are you up yet! I really need my clothes." Hermione called as she walked into my room. I squealed and tried to hide behind the door, but it was to late.

"Oh! Oh sorry Ginny." Hermione squealed as she stepped back out the door.

"No, Hermione, come in. it's ok, I was just getting dressed."

Slowly Hermione walked back into the room making sure she wasn't looking at me. She quickly reach her bag. I didn't turn to her or move to grab any underwear, I just couldn't take my eyes of the mirror.

"Hermione?" I asked a bit shy.

"Yes, Ginny."

"When actually did this happen." I asked a bit overwhelmed and pointing to my body.

She looked up at me.

"What do you mean?" she couldn't hide her surprise.

"This! my body, since when does it have curves like that?"

"Oh…"

I could see her thinking about what to say, and while she though about an answer I finally moved to get at least some underwear on.

"Ginny, you have changed quite a lot this last year. Even before we left you started to get more womanly curves, but honestly you have changed a lot since we left." She answered seriously.

"I haven't even noticed it." I muttered.

Hermione laughed at that, "Maybe you haven't but I'm dead sure that Harry has noticed, even I did!"

I turned bright red at her words, Hermione noticed and stopped giggling.

"oh, Ginny, you know it is only normal. You are almost seventeen now, of course your body is changing, mine still is as well and it won't stop any time soon, I guess."

"Yeah, I know, it just took me by surprise."

"I know, it can be overwhelming if you don't keep track. My body started to change a lot in the summer between our third and fourth year, I panicked because I didn't want to be the curvy girl at school, but hanging around with Ron and Harry had its advantages, they never really saw me that way." She giggled at the end, indicating that those times were far behind.

I just had to ask.

"Does Ron see you that way now?"

This time it was Hermione that blushed.

"Yes, he does, or I believe he does."

I thought about that as I pulled my t-shirt over my head. I wasn't in for dresses and witch robes today, just comfortable muggle clothing. I wondered if Hermione was going through the same strange feelings as I have been. She was always so smart and always knew answers maybe she could help me with this, without me getting embarrassed.

"Hermione, can I ask you something personal?"

"Yes, of course." She said brightly.

I sat down on my bed as I pulled on some socks.

"You and Ron…do you have…you know… taken it to the next step?" I tried to ask it but I was afraid that she would find me nosy. She sat down across me on her own bed and looked at me for a few seconds.

"A bit…" she admitted blushing.

"Can I ask how far…?" I asked as I up looked at her.

"I'll answer if you'll tell me why you want to know?" She said after a long silence.

"Okay." I nodded.

Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. It looked like she was trying to calm down a bit.

"We haven't gone far…" she whispered, "Just a bit of touching, with clothes on, I mean."

"Oh, why?" I wasn't sure why I expected more from them, maybe because they had been together with out parents around for almost a year, but I didn't expected this.

"Uhm… because it's still a bit awkward for the both of us. We have grown up with each other, we know each other very well, but when it comes to physical part, lets say that it's a bit strange."

"But you want to go further?" I asked.

Hermione blushed again but answered honestly.

"Yes and no, I'm a girl, seventeen and in love, of course I desire more, but I don't want to take the chance and make a stupid mistake. Besides that I'm not even sure Ron or I are ready for it."

I exhaled loudly, I was relieved that Hermione would understand my struggle. She looked at me again and saw my relieve written all over my face.

"Now, tell me, why do you want to know?"

"I…I have…I have been struggling with the same thing from the day after the battle." I whispered.

"What do you mean, maybe I can help." Hermione said eagerly.

"I'm counting on your help actually." I pointed out. I toke a deep breath and started.

"Every time Harry and I kiss or even hold each other I feel this hum. Like butterflies, like electricity, it makes me insane, it makes me want him even more. When I look at him or kiss him I feel this desire taking over every part of my brain. Last night when we kissed, Harry pulled back after a while and it was good because I couldn't. Every time it happens every single cell in my body tingles."

"You know that it is normal to have these feeling for your man." Hermione pointed out.

"Hermione, I'm sixteen, I just found out today that my body looks like that of a woman. I'm not old enough to feel this way. Kissing and cuddling yes, but wanting more…wanting to have him in every physical way possible, no, I'm too young for that. I just don't know how to deal with these feelings." At the end of my rant my voice sounded desperate.

Hermoine sat down next to me and put her arm around me.

"Ginny, I'm not even sure if seventeen is old enough. In some parts of the world muggle children get married when they are our age or even younger, they don't even have a choice, they are raised with the believe that as soon as they get their first period they are old enough to get married. Physically maybe they are ready to have children, but most of the time mentally they aren't ready for it. In other parts kids are free to do what they want, they have sex with each other at our age, just because they want to, commitment to somebody or not. In the muggle world if you are a virgin at the age of eighteen or twenty you are considered weird by people the same age. I don't know if either of it is right, but it's certainly not my way."

"What is your way then?"

"I let Ron lead the way and if he goes too fast I'll pull on the brakes, but I'm sure Ron won't go too fast, he is much too insecure with himself."

"I settled for the same thing, leave it to Harry to set the pace, but I'm not sure if I can and he doesn't even know that I'm having trouble with these feelings." I admitted.

"Ron doesn't either, but some day soon I'll have to tell him. I think you should talk to Harry about this as well. He is much more mature than Ron is, I don't think it will be a hard conversation."

"I know…" I nodded, "Hermione, I'm happy that you are here and that I can talk to you about these things. It would have been so awkward to ask mom or Fleur."

"I'm happy to have you as a sister and friend to talk to." Hermione said with a smile. I smiled back at her, I loved it that she called me her sister.

"You know what?" I giggled.

"No, what?"

"We should go out shopping like sisters do, before we go on holiday, just the two of us. A girls day out."

"That sounds great. Muggle or wizard world?" She asked.

"Why not both." I giggled, "You can show me shopping the muggle way and I take you shopping witch-style."

"We have to make sure we can do that, because of the safety issues, but I'm sure up for a girls day of shopping." Hermione said as she got up.

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**_Please don't forget to review...if you don't have an account you are still allowed to review... lets hit the 60 reviews!_**


	11. Wednesday the 7th of May

_**Thank you all so much for the reviews...**_

_- one comment on the reviews...I got a review about Harry and Ginny just have to get on with it...please do not forget that they are 17 and 16...in some parts of the world that is really to young to be very intimate and I want to honor everybody's feeling about this...that said I am Dutch and we are the most free thinking people in the world...so this chapter...well you'll see what will happen..._

_**Okay...long long long chapter this time...I had been planning on breaking it up into 2 chapters but I couldn't really find a place were to break it up...because it is a long chapter I'm sure I have made some spelling mistakes...please don't be harsh on me...**_

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****Wednesday the 7****th**** of May.**

We were both still giggling when we got downstairs. Ron and Harry were in the kitchen eating their breakfast and looking at a piece of paper on the table.

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"A letter from Gringrotts, for Harry." Ron answered.

"Oh, what is it saying?" I asked still a bit giddy.

"The head goblin wants me to visit him next Monday together with Kingsley. He assures me that he wants me to stay a client but that we have to discus what happened." Harry shrugged.

"That's good, though." Hermione said as she sat down next to Ron.

"The only reason they want to keep me as a client is because of what is in the vault." Harry muttered.

"What day is it today?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I didn't know date or day.

"It's Wednesday, Ginny. It's the seventh of may." My mom answered as she walked in with breakfast for both me and Hermione.

"So are you two going to tell us why you were so giddy when you came down the stairs." Ron said.

Hermione and I looked at each other and giggled again.

"Yes, please tell us what's so funny." Mom said.

"Nothing really…Hermione and I had an idea."

"What's that, dear."

"We want a girls day out, shopping, just the two of us. We both need clothing for the vacation and new clothes for school so…" I stopped because my mom turned red.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea." She bristled.

"Why not," Harry shrugged, "you two deserve to have some fun."

"This too dangerous. You saw last night what might happen, I don't think it's a good idea." My mom said. Her voice made it quite clear that she didn't expected anyone disagreeing with her, to my surprised Harry did.

"Mrs. Weasley it's up to you of course, but don't you think between Ginny and Hermione they can keep themselves save. Ginny has the strongest hexes I have ever seen and Hermione knows every spell ever written down, they will be save. Besides there will always be a dangerous dark wizard around, maybe not as dangerous or crazy as Riddle but still, you don't want to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life, do you?"

The world sounded so simple when Harry stated it like that, it was as if he saw things completely different now. Somehow I had the feeling that killing the horcrux in him had opened up his true self. Funny, loving, smart and with a careless but vigilant look on the world. Once again I found myself wondering if his dad had been like that as well.

My mom looked at Harry for a long time, I could almost hear her brain work. It was clear in her face that she was seriously considering his words and not trying to find a way out of them. Somewhere at some point she had to start realizing that we were growing up and that she couldn't mother us forever. I guess she did that just now as she realized the truth in Harry's words.

"Okay, you two can go, only and I mean only if you discus it with Arthur and Kingsley. They will have a say in your safety."

Hermione and I both squealed like little girls, talking my dad into it was going to be a piece of cake and Kingsley would trust Harry's opinion. I turned to Harry to thank him for his support but when I saw his face I stopped squealing immediately.

"What's wrong?" I asked, he looked worried.

"Oh, nothing really…" He waved it away.

"Harry, tell me." I demanded as I grabbed his waving hand.

"It's just, I know you two will be perfectly save and I trust the both of you that you will be able to defend yourselves…but with your red hair, every wizard will recognize you easily…it just makes me a bit uncomfortable."

"That problem is easily solved." Hermione said cheerfully. "Ginny, how would you like to be a blonde or a brunette."

Hermione almost bounced off her chair in excitement, was she serious?

"Can you do that? Can you transform my hair so completely?" I asked. I knew human transformation was taught in the first year of the NEWTS, McGonagall had started on the subject last year but it had been extremely difficult.

"Of course I can do that." Hermoine said, she sounded a bit insulted, "let me show you."

I nodded a bit frightened of what might happen but I trusted her. Hermione grabbed her wand and waved it through the air, not even whispering a word. Suddenly something tingled on my head and grew slightly warm but as soon as I noticed it was gone.

"Wow." Harry and Ron gasped simultaneously.

"What?" I asked.

"Here, dear, you can use this as a mirror." Mom said as she gave me a smooth polished piece of one of her pots. I looked in it and gasped, I was blonde!

"Oh my… Hermione, what have you done?" I asked breathless.

"What? Don't you think it looks nice?" She asked a bit too innocently.

"I…I don't know…it looks so different."

"That was the idea, wasn't it…I can do colors but I'm not yet ready to take risks with shorten or curling it."

"Ginny… I… I think this will work perfectly but Hermione can you please make it black or dark brown because she isn't going to walk out the door looking like this, not without me holding her hand." Harry said as he was staring intently at me, his eyes told me enough to make me blush furiously. They all laughed at me, which of course made me even more red. By the time I finished breakfast my hair was back to it's natural color and my face resembled the color of my hair.

I left out a sigh of relieve when Harry pulled my out into the garden.

We walked silently for a few minutes, just enjoying the sound of birds and wind blowing gently around the house. Finally I felt the heat and color leave my face and I was able to look at Harry again. He looked completely relaxed, careless and so beautiful.

I guess he noticed that I was watching him because he turned to looked at me. A broad smile appeared on his face and I blushed again, I could guess what he was thinking about.

"Harry, please don't tell me you are still thinking blonde?" I complained.

"Why not?" He asked surprised, "You looked so sexy with it."

"Oh no." I groaned as my face resembled now the color of a lobster.

"Don't be embarrassed because it's a fact, but seriously, I rather have you a redhead…it makes you look more like…like you, I'm suppose."

I shook my head, I was embarrassed enough already. Hermione sure knew how to get things crazy, but her plan had worked because both mom and Harry agreed that nobody would recognize me with blonde or black hair. We would be completely undercover, as Hermione stated.

Still she, my mom, Ron and Harry had laughed freely at my expense when all the colors were given a try. When I turn seventeen I will so get them back for that, my revenge will be sweet.

I looked up at Harry again, he was still staring at me. His eyes showed his happiness and his relaxed smile told me that he was in a good mood. I wondered if it was okay for me to ask a heave question, the one that had been on my mind for a while now.

"Harry, can I ask you something."

"You can ask me anything." He answered with a smile.

"Do you…do you feel different?" I asked, I didn't know how else to begin.

"What exactly do you mean?" he asked confused.

"Well…please don't get upset that I bring this up but I have been thinking about this for a while now. When Riddle destroyed the last horcrux, the one in you, that must have had it's effect on you."

I looked down, afraid to see what my words did to him and embarrassed by the fact that I even dared to ask him something this personal.

"Why do you think that?" I could hear from his voice that he wasn't unaware and that he wasn't surprised by my words.

"I mean, having something so dark and evil within your body, it must have had its influence. I remember the dairy horcrux, when it took over me, I felt horrible and scared. You had one in you for almost your whole life, I can imagine you feel different now it's gone."

He was silent for a while, so long actually that I looked up to see his face. Wondering if my words had brought back a memory of pain, I was utterly surprised to see him smiling at me.

"You have noticed, huh?

I nodded.

"Come sit with me, I'll explain." He said as he pulled me to the tree were we had talked the day before. He waited until I sat and looked at him. He took my hands in his and raised them to kiss them. When he lowered them onto him knees he started to explain.

"I think I noticed the change immediately. I was much more relaxed, so much that I could hold still while Riddle put the cruciatus curse on me, I felt the pain but I was able to keep every muscle relaxed. I didn't know at that time what had caused the relaxed feeling, I just thought it was the aftermath of being killed again. I started to really notice something was different the day after the battle, you remember, when we kissed in McGonagall's office."

"I remember." I nodded, "I thought you looked different."

"I left different, I felt that I could breath more easily but also stronger and much less tense, and even more in love with you. Which was nearly impossible."

He leaned forward to kiss me softly.

"I noticed during that day that my magic felt different, stronger, much more powerful and lighter, like it comes to me more easily. I wasn't completely sure why, so when I got the chance to talk privately to Dumbledore, I asked him about it. I told him about my feelings, about how I was able to be happy and relaxed in a time where we should mourn those we had lost, that I felt I could love even more and the thing that concerned me most, that my magic felt so different so powerful and raw." Harry explained calmly. It was the first time I heard about the things he had discussed with Dumbledore in detail.

"Dumbledore being him, he didn't answer my questions, he just gave me enough information to figure things out in my own. Like he always had done. He told me '_Harry, being released from something so dark will have a deep impact on your soul. You have become who you really are._' With that I knew that I shouldn't be afraid of this change that it was me and that eventually it will feel like me."

I thought about his words for a second.

"Are you afraid of it now, even though you know it isn't necessary?"

"For the majority, no, I'm really enjoying the feeling for being able to relax and I very much enjoy being able to love you even more. The one part I'm still apprehensive about is my magic, it still feels so raw and strong, I'm a bit afraid of what it can do. That's one of the reasons I want to go back to school I know the teachers will be able to help me find the feeling again."

"You make everything sound so simple." I sighed as I leaned back to catch some rays of sun.

"That's one of the big things I figured out this year actually."

"What do you mean?" I asked surprised.

"Well, that life actually is very simple. You go to school, you grow up, you meet the one you want to spend the rest of your life with, you find a job that you like, and you grow old, and than at one point you have to say goodbye to this life. All the drama involved we create ourselves."

"Tell me how far are you in your simple life?" I asked with a giggle, I was surprised at his casual look on the world he had now.

"Quite far actually." He replied with a smile before turning seriously, "I have grown up, I'm almost finished with school, I already got the job I will enjoy the most and I found that special person I want to grow old with. I know I still have to deal with a lot of drama, I know we will miss those we have lost every day of our lives, but I know that what ever drama I may come across I have the larger part of my happy simple life here with you."

Tears were now forming in my eyes, I fought very hard to keep them in but the way Harry said those words made me so emotional. To hear him say out loud how he saw me as that special person for him, was so important to me, it wiped away every doubt I ever had about Harry and me.

Harry saw the tears in my eyes and pulled me closer to him. Holding me against his chest while he leaned back against the tree. We sat there for a while, just the two of us, sometimes he kissed my hair, sometimes I looked up to kiss him. I think we sat there for an hour before I heard Ron and Hermione coming our way.

"Hey, can we join, mom is driving us crazy?" Ron asked.

"Sure." Harry answered. He didn't let go of me when I wanted to sit up so I settled for laying down with my head on his stomach.

"What were you two doing?" Ron asked.

"I just wanted to tell Ginny what happened yesterday when I was with Kingsley. I told her yesterday the bigger part of my day but I still have to finish it."

"Oh will you tell us as well, I have been wondering about it but I never got the chance to ask." Hermione asked.

"Of course, sit down."

Harry told them first what he had told me yesterday, about his family and about Dudley's new girlfriend. Ron and Hermione were both shocked.

"Talk about a change." Ron breathed.

"After all that they have done to you to stop your magic and now this?" Hermione shook her head.

Harry just laughed at their reaction, I had the feeling he couldn't care less about what the Dursley's did or thought. After they had come down from their shock Harry told Ron and Hermione the rest, about Gringotts and about the shield against the photographers. It were mostly things that he had told me already.

When Harry started to tell about his conversations with Kingsley I made sure to pay attention.

"So, Kingsley thinks you can join up without training?" Ron asked breathless.

"After I finished school, yes." Harry shrugged.

"But you are going to get extra training from him?"

"Yes, we both agreed that it would have been saver, I could use some extra tricks, I think." Harry smiled. I could see he was really excited about this. I sighed softly, who was I to be difficult about this when he was so happy to do these things.

"What else did you talk about?" I asked.

"Uhm… About the holiday, if it was save to go anywhere we liked."

"Oh, what did he say?" Hermione asked.

"Do you have to ask? I told Mr. Weasley to bring as much as he could haven't I?" Harry said to her with a wink.

"So it's really safe to go where ever we want?" she asked again.

"Yes, Kingsley is very sure that we will be able to defend ourselves if it's needed."

"What else did you talk about?" I pressed.

"The Death Eaters on the run of course. The daily prophet today will include a list with all the names and pictures of those who got away and are wanted. We discussed what to do with the Malfoy's and the upcoming trial."

"Did many got away?" I asked

"No, but enough to urge for a big search. Kingsley has every auror send out to catch them. We just discussed what we knew about the people on the lists, where we might find them and how best to approach."

"I feel scared just to think about Death Eaters on the loose." Hermione admitted.

"Don't be. We have each other as long as we don't go alone anywhere it will be okay." Harry smiled at her.

"What else?" I asked again.

"Nothing really, he just asked if I had thought about where I wanted to live after Hogwarts, where we would be going on holiday, and normal stuff friends talk about."

I smiled at the word 'friends' it was weird to hear that Harry had become friends with Kingsley in such a short time but I loved it non the less. Harry deserved to have such a good friends.

It was silent for a while, Hermione lay down on her back her legs over Ron's legs while I still rested against Harry. It was peaceful and I enjoyed the four of us being together so easily.

I was thinking about the things Harry just told us, about the Death Eaters and the criminal trials.

"When are they going to start prosecuting the caught Death Eaters?" I asked him.

"I don't really know, soon I think. They promised me that they will keep me informed but I think reading the Prophet will be enough."

"You'll be really busy." I whispered.

"I don't know, I don't have to be there for every hearing. I don't want to be away from Hogwarts more than I have already planned, but maybe some days…" Harry trailed off.

"Do you think they will ask us to give statements during these hearings?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I think you two will be there almost as many hours as I'm going to be."

Hermione groaned.

"Hermione, you can pass your NEWTS even if you spend the entire school year sleeping, the words from the book will just walk into your brain, so don't start complaining about a few days that we are going to miss." Ron said, guessing why she groaned. He was right, Hermione blushed furiously.

"Even I have to study for the NEWTS."

"What about you, Ron, have you decided what you want to do? Finish school or live the free life?" I asked.

"No, not yet. I'm not sure what to do if I don't go to school. I would be bored with you all gone, but to stay in the same place every week will be difficult now I have tasted what that freedom feels like."

"Do you know what you want to do with yourself even if you finish school?"

"No." Ron shook his head sadly, "After the war broke out I haven't really thought about the future anymore. It was hard to even believe we had one, now I just have to refocus all my believes again."

"What about becoming an auror?" Harry asked.

"That would be cool, you and me…" Ron smiled, "but I'm sure I'll fail the tests."

"Why would you say that, you have proven yourself the last few months as much as me." Harry said a bit heated. I could guess that he was really hoping that Ron would go to school with us and maybe even later work with him.

"You think so?" Ron asked.

"I know so."

Ron smiled at that, his eyes a bit glassy, he was imagining him being an auror, I could just tell.

"What about you, Ginny, have you thought about your future yet?" Hermione asked a bit lazy, her eyes closed against the sun.

Harry looked down at me, suddenly very interested in what I was about to answer, but I didn't really know what to answer. Ron had been honest, so I would be as well.

"No, I don't even know where to start thinking. I've never seen myself like mom, just staying at home and take care of the kids, but what I should do is a mystery to me."

Harry leaned forward to kiss my forehead, and smiled at me.

"You've got a whole year to figure it out." He whispered.

"You could try out for a professional Quidditch team." Ron said.

I turned to look at him.

"Yeah right." I snorted.

"Why not, you are a good chaser." He said.

"Ron, please, I'm good enough for a school team but for a professional team." I shook my head.

"We still have a whole year to figure this all out, we don't have to make hasty decisions." Hermione said.

"There is one thing we do have to decide on soon." Harry said.

"And what is that?" I said as I lay my head back down.

"The vacation, where to go to." He smiled.

Lunch time came and went, mom out did herself with soup and cakes, but she did have a point, Ron, Hermione and Harry were really thin and needed food to get back to their full strength. So mom made something different every meal. The boys loved it but me and Hermione felt stuffed by the time mom allowed us from the table.

After lunch there were chores to do, something different for all four of us. Mom had me clean up the living room and help her with the laundry, while Harry was to de-gnome the garden, Ron clean out the bedrooms and Hermione was cleaning the kitchen again. It took up most of the afternoon and by the time she set me free the others had settled themselves under the tree again.

They were talking quite animated about something.

"Anything new?" I asked.

"No, just the Prophet, they have a story about an attack at the other side of the country, they say one of the Death Eaters got cornered there but got away."

"Do they know who it was?"

"No, they are only sure it was a Death Eater because of the dark mark that was set over the body."

"So it had to be somebody from Voldemort's inner circles." Hermione stated.

"I guess so, but who…?" Harry said.

"The ministry will figure it out." I shrugged, I didn't want Harry to go off, hunting for a Death Eater on the loose.

"Come on, dad will be home any moment, he'll have the brochures." I said as I turned back towards the house.

"Yes, lets go." Ron said as he jumped up.

I waited for Harry to join me before I walked back to the house, he looked worried.

"Harry, just let it go. It's not your job yet to find them." I whispered.

"I know." He sighed, "but it's just difficult to realize that it's not over yet. I wonder if it will ever really stop."

"Some day it might stop, when our children will hear our stories and decide that this horror cannot be repeated." I whispered, knowing the words from a book I had once read.

"Haha, you sound like Hermione, did you swallow a book?" Harry laughed.

"Hey! I'm trying to make you feel better."

"I know, Ginny." He said and turned to kiss me. "Thank you for that." He whispered against my lips.

"Hey, enough with the snogging, do that in your own time." Ron called, looking annoyed over his shoulder. Hermione quickly grabbed him, I thought she was going to tell him off but instead she threw herself onto him with so much force that Ron couldn't stop her, he didn't even protested.

"Who is snogging now." Harry whispered to Ron as we passed them on our way in.

Not much after that, dad arrived home carrying two large bags full of brochures. All pictures of beautiful beaches and exotic trees. Leaflets and books full.

Within seconds every book was on the table and Hermione piled them per country. True to his word dad brought us only sunny places.

"Wow, where to start?" I whispered.

"I know." Harry breathed.

We looked at the piles, there were six of them, Spain, the Canary Islands, France, Italy, Greece and Egypt. Egypt was only a small pile, dad just bought two leaflets. We had been there before but dad wasn't sure if Harry wouldn't want to see it, so he decided to bring some.

"Hermione, any idea on how we get through these and find somewhere we all want to go to?" Harry asked.

"Uhm…" Hermione started, "We could all write down one hotel in each country we like, and than eliminate."

Harry looked at her, trying to figure out how that would go and nodded. Without an other word he summoned pieces of parchment and quills.

"That's a brilliant idea." He said.

Harry pulled the pile with the books and leaflets about the Canary islands towards us, and handed me one. His smile bright and eyes shining with happiness, it made me whimper with the desire to kiss him, quickly I turned to the book he handed me.

Picture after moving picture it showed paradise, I had never imagined something looking so beautiful, I could only imagine how the colors would look like. The book was divided in seven chapter, one for each of the islands. I really liked them all but the isle of Lanzarote stood out. The volcanic island had high mountains and beautiful beaches. On the southern part of the island they had set up a protected area for wizarding families, it was close to the most beautiful lagoons of the island. The hotel looked beautiful and the story with it confirmed that it was a luxurious and rich hotel, with good food and close to the muggle world for those who wanted to venture out.

I quickly wrote down that one, maybe not this time but for sure I wanted to go there someday.

We have been reading through the brochures for more than two hours when George suddenly walked in.

"Hello…what the hell are you all doing!" he yelped in surprise at the amount of books he saw on the table. George considered himself allergic to books since he left school.

"Oh, hello dear." My mom said as she looked up from her brochure about Greece.

George just stood there, doing a very good impersonation of a gold fish.

"We are trying to find out were to go to for vacation this summer." My dad explained.

"You…you are going on a holiday?" George gasped.

"That's the idea." My dad nodded, he still hadn't looked up from his book but his ears turned slightly red.

"Who are coming?" George asked.

This made us all look up, we all felt slightly uncomfortable. Harry had insisted we all go, but who he had included in that we didn't know. I had assumed it was just the six of us. I looked at Harry trying to figure out what he thought but his face was smooth, still I could see he worked very hard on not to smile.

"Well…" my mom started, "Harry is taking us, he wants to go somewhere sunny and he invited us to come along."

My mom blushed bright red, looking down at the table trying not to look at George. He looked at her in surprise for a few seconds before his face fell.

"Oh, that's very nice of you, Harry." He muttered.

"Yeah, well it would be very enjoyable to spend the summer somewhere sunny with the Weasley family." Harry replied with a smile looking George straight in his eyes. It was almost like he was challenging George to say something. Beside Harry and George, everybody was looking very uncomfortable, mom and dad were both looking at the table unable to meet George's eyes. Which was the reason why they didn't see Harry wink at George.

"Oh, well I'm sure it won't hurt the shop if it stays closed for an other week or do you plan on going longer?" George said as he grabbed a brochure from the table and sat down next to Harry.

"Nah, maybe a few days longer but not two weeks." Harry said as if he was picking up an old conversation. He turned back to the book he was holding seemingly oblivious to the five gold fish impersonators that were sitting around the table. What the hack…

"Harry?" I whispered elbowing his side.

"What?" He said as he playfully rubbed his ribs as I nudged towards the others. All Harry did was shrugging.

"Harry!" I said again.

He sighed and looked up.

"What? I said I would take the whole Weasley family on vacation, right? Bill and Fleur had plans on their own and Percy didn't want to take a day off from work, claiming it was too busy. George would want to know where he is spending his vacation so I told him to join us tonight."

"You mean, you two have been planning this, have been fooling us?" my mom stuttered.

"Hey, it is still George you are talking about." Harry said with a smile.

Hermione and I giggled it was so funny to see Harry joking with my mom, specially because my mom was an easy target.

"You have asked Bill and Percy as well?" my dad asked.

"Yes and Charlie, but he claims he can't leave work as well."

Mom beamed at him, she had tears running down her face. It was clear that she was touched by his thoughtfulness. I felt a wave of love for him running through my body, I really had the sweetest guy in the whole world. Softly I squeezed his hand to let him know how I felt, I got his beautiful smile in return. His green eyes flashed with happiness.

"So, what's the plan? How are we going to select one vacation from all this?" George asked as he pointed to the piles of brochures, leaflets and books. Hermione quickly explained our game plan. Once he got it we all dived back into the holiday pictures.

The evening was really nice, everybody talked softly about their favorites with each other, mom had made some cookies and cupcakes so the guys ate and talked, Hermione and I talked about beaches and hotels, mom was literally buzzing with happiness as she took in the warmth of the family. All in all it was really nice to spend the evening this way. Very family-like and I had to admit that I had missed that feeling the last year.

It was close to midnight when we all finished our list. Seven people with six options. We all looked at Hermione, she would know what to do next.

"Give me your lists." She said as she held out her hand.

After she piled our lists on top of each other she pulled out her wand and waved it over the stack of parchment, the lists lighted up a bit and disappeared leaving just one piece of parchment behind.

Hermione picked it up and looked at it for a few seconds before laying it in the middle of the table.

"My spell has simplified all our lists, this is an overview of all the hotels and how many time it has been written down. There are only two hotels that really stand out, both have been written down five times."

"Impressive," Harry told her, "where are the two hotels?"

Hermione looked down quickly.

"One is on Lanzarote and the other is on Crete."

"So how do we decided where to go?" Ron asked.

"Let Harry decided, dear, he is the one who is taking us." My mom said. To my surprise nobody felt the need to disagree with my mother, that was the first time in years since her word was not being challenged.

Hermione ruffled through the books, she pulled out both options and handed them to Harry. I could see he wasn't really looking at them but he pretended to do so anyway. Why he did that I couldn't understand. I looked at the books to see which hotels made the selection, the one from on Lanzarote was my favorite, the first one I saw and the one I really want to go to. I wondered which one Harry would choose.

"I'll decide tomorrow, I can't choose now, I like them both but I want to read the text with it to make a good choice." Harry said. Everybody nodded in agreement and I could see a little smile playing around his lips. Some how looking at that smile I felt the overwhelming urge to kiss him, it was so powerful that I leaned back a bit. I really didn't want to attack him with the whole family around but I wondered if it would go unnoticed if I spend the night in his bedroom. I really needed some time with him just to kiss him.

"I think that's alright dear, it is late anyway and I want to get an early start tomorrow, I need to get some groceries before breakfast." My mom said.

My dad nodded already half asleep.

"Don't stay up to late." My mom said as she walked up the stairs.

"I'm going home as well, I still have a lot to do." George said.

"George if you need any help, you'll let us know right? I wouldn't mind spending a day helping you get the store ready." Harry said.

"Yeah, Ron and Harry could help you, while Ginny and I go shopping in London." Hermione said enthusiastically.

George looked at me and Hermione.

"You two shopping, on your own, in London? Mom is allowing that?" He asked surprised.

"Yeah, Harry said it was okay and Kingsley will probably say the same so if dad agrees, and you know he will, mom is allowing us to go shopping. Anyway we need new things for the vacation." I told him.

"it's so unfair that you get to do all the fun stuff while we had to work our ass off." George muttered.

"So what do you say, do want us to come and help you out?" Harry pressed.

"Yeah, it would be nice to have some help, I don't how Fred and I even got everything done with the two of us, alone I don't stand a chance, and I want everything ready before the shopping week start when the Hogwarts book lists arrive. That's the busiest time of the year."

George sounded a bit depressed, but that wasn't really surprising, I was sure he missed Fred a lot, specially when he was at home all by himself. I made the decision to visit him at least one more time before school started just to see if I could help him.

After a few more minutes of silence everybody got up, Harry took the travel books with him, probably wanted to read them before breakfast. I was a bit disappointed, I had hoped he would stay with me or at least asked me to stay with him. I looked down at my feet to hide my disappointment while Ron and Hermione said goodnight and left the kitchen. Harry was saying goodbye to George while I waited for him at the bottom of the stairs.

Maybe I was waiting in vain but I really hoped Harry would want to stay with me tonight.

I heard the door close as George said goodnight and looked up to see Harry watching me.

"What?" I asked.

"You look sad." He stated as a fact.

"It's nothing." I muttered.

"Are you sad to see George so alone?" He asked slowly.

"Yes." I said, quickly grabbing the opportunity I really didn't want to tell what was on my mind, he didn't need to know my obsessions.

"He'll be okay, you know that, right?" Harry asked, he sounded a little worried.

"Yes, I know, but still it's sad to see him alone."

Harry nodded and walked towards me, I thought he was heading for the stairs so I stepped aside to let him go up first. I guess I was wrong, Harry stopped next to me and he pulled me into his arms. Two fingers gently raising my head so I was looking in those deep green eyes. He stared back me for a second before pulling me closer and pressing his lips against mine.

The sensation was overwhelming, like my desire to kiss him just a while ago, it was strong and made me forget everything. All I could do was to answer his kiss with the passion that had been boiling in me. I felt his lips pressing harder against mine than ever before, the touch made me quiver slightly. I parted my lips a bit and brushed his with my tongue, slowly tracing his lower lip. Harry's arms pulled me even closer to him as the kiss grew more deeper, slowly it heated with passion. Finally I could feel his tongue touching mine, it made me tingle with pleasure.

My heart was pounding and my blood was rushing through my body with more speed than I ever thought possible, I had to pull away desperately needed air. I expected Harry to pull back as well and say goodnight but while I tried to breathe he trailed kisses over my cheek towards my neck and ear. He touched sensitive areas, specially the one close to the base of my neck.

My hands, on their own accord, moved over his shoulders into his hair making it even more untidy. His hands had found their way into my hair as well as his lips slowly made their way up again, finishing with soft kisses on my lips.

When I opened my eyes and looked up at him our eyes met, in them I saw the passion and love I felt reflected back to me. Harry took my hand and pulled me with him up the stairs. It was good that he took the lead because my brain had gone all fuzzy, I was sure that I wouldn't be able to make my way up alone.

When we hit the landing where our rooms were located I turned towards mine but Harry gently pulled me back to him.

"Where are you going?" He whispered a bit hoarse.

"To bed." I whispered.

Harry's face fell a bit.

"Will…" he started, "Will you stay with me tonight?"

His words should have sounded shy and unsure but somehow Harry made them sound sexy. He already knew the answer no matter how he asked it.

I smiled slyly at him and nodded, no matter what he would ask from me, I would nod and agree. With that I was pulled towards what was now officially his room, at least the sign now said _Harry_. All the doors in the house had signs on it, the bedrooms with the name of the people who it belonged to and the others with the name of the room behind them. I wondered briefly if I would spend a lot of time in this room if my name would show up as well. That thought didn't last long enough to find a answer, when Harry opened the door to his bedroom and pulled me in all thoughts were lost.

When I walked into the room Harry let go of my hand and walked towards the table besides the bed. He placed the travel brochures and his wand on it after he lit a light. When he turned back to me extending his hand to me. An open invitation.

I didn't think twice and walked up to him, placing my wand next to his and stepped into his arms. He quickly closed them, pulling me down on the bed, rolling me over him so that I lay on the wall side of the bed.

"Harry," I giggled, "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you are comfortable and can't get away." He whispered as he kissed me softly.

"But I'm still dressed. I need something to sleep in." I giggled again.

"You can put your sleeping gear on later, first I want to kiss you." He said with that sexy hoarse voice as he leaned in again and pressed his lips against mine. If I thought the kiss downstairs had been heated with passion it was nothing compared to this. Maybe it was because we were in his bed and maybe it was because I didn't want to fight my desires any longer and just surrendered myself to them, fact was that this kissed raised the level of intensity with quite a bit.

Harry pulled back first, taking a deep breath and rested his forehead against mine. We just lay there for a while just enjoying the intense but great atmosphere around us. Suddenly Harry started to shiver a bit.

"Are you cold?" I asked. I didn't consider it to be cold but to be honest I was still flooded with heat from that kiss so I wasn't the right person to take that measure. The only reply I got from Harry was a short movement of his head, it was so unlike the new Harry not to explain his feelings that I got worried. I pulled back a little so I could see his face. I gasped when I saw tears running down his cheek.

"Harry? What is wrong?" I whispered.

He just shook his head again. "It's nothing." He muttered.

"Tell me, you know you can tell me everything." I said as I pulled him closer to me, rubbing my hand drawing circles over his back hoping to calm him.

"It's just silly." He barely whispered.

"Of course not! You can tell me even if you think it's silly, specially things that make you so sad."

"That is it though, I'm not sad." He said.

Completely taken by surprise and totally confused I pulled back again so that I could look at him.

"Than what is it?" I plead.

He looked at me while, trying to blink the tears away, suddenly he kissed me with so much force and passion that I all but forgot what I had asked him.

"Oh, Ginny," He whispered as he pulled back, "it's just this, I have you, I have people around me who actually do care, I have a life now… and I just realized that."

I just stared at him still confused.

"But you were are crying, why?"

"It just makes me so happy to realize that, but also so scared."

"What do you mean, it makes you scared?" I still didn't understand how it could be something to cry about.

"Ginny, I was just suddenly overwhelmed with the things I feel for you and the intense happiness I'm experiencing with you and your family, but…I don't know who to do it. How to live happy like this, I never have lived like this."

"Harry, you are living it already, you are making plans for the future, for that happy and peaceful future."

He sighed, "It's just that it doesn't feel that way. Living like this, with you and your family is all I could dream about for the last year, and before that I was always hoping for a life like this, but now it is here it feels strange, like I shouldn't be here. Like I said before I still feel like I will wake up in that damn tent again."

He looked at me again, his eyes met mine for a brief second before they moved to my lips. He kissed them again softly, just for a few seconds, to remind him I was really there.

"When you were giggling like that and when I kissed you, it sounded and felt so happy, I just realized in that moment that I am living this life and it's overwhelming. It's just so unreal."

"I know." I admitted, I really did understood what he was saying, I have had the same feeling of things being unreal. "we could just live day by day for now, and look forward to the plans we have already made."

Harry looked at me with a smile, he quickly wiped away the last tears.

"Yeah, you are right." He whispered as he kissed me again. His kiss was soft and slow but I was in no mood for slow or soft now. The passion and desire that I had felt only a few minutes ago were still running amok with my brain and body and the touch of his lips made me want more.

Our kiss deepened, our tongues were gently brushing each other and soon this kiss was making us gasping.

Without making a conscious decision my hands moved over Harry's back towards his shoulders. I could feel his muscles move underneath his skin and t-shirt, feeling him like this only made me want more. I trailed my hand down his upper arm and back up into his hair.

Harry's hands weren't still either, he had started on my back as well, softly moving up and down my spine, making circles, with every movement touching new areas. With my hands up in his hair my t-shirt was pulled up a bit exposing my lower back and stomach, I shivered slight with pleasure Harry's hand reached the end of my shirt and brushed my bare skin.

I expected Harry to leave exposed skin alone but his hand continued to roam the bare skin of my lower back, softly making its way to my side. It felt like every nerve in my skin he touched was exposed and on fire. His hand slowly, agonizing slowly, made its way up over my ribs. I groaned softly, not able to contain the pleasure inside.

When his thumb reached the lower edge of my bra, Harry paused and stopped kissing me. I whimpered at the loss of contact and my eyes flew open. When I met his eyes I could see the question he didn't want to ask out loud, _"Have I gone to far or can I continue?"_ I smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss him again. I didn't care about being to young anymore. Harry clearly got the message, he pulled me into a deep kiss, his tongue meeting mine with passion. For a short moment his hand didn't move, one on my back and the other on my ribs with his thumb softly rubbing the skin under my bra. His touch drove me almost insane. I wasn't really sure what I wanted him to do, I didn't know what he wanted to do either, but his hand was so close to my breast and it made me ache for more. So much even that I felt my breasts tingle, they were anticipating his touch.

My hands were also aching, they wanted to cover his bare skin, to feel him with out the t-shirt in the way. Slowly but with determination I reached the hem of his shirt and lifted it enough to feel to skin of his sides under my fingers. I exhaled softly when I touched his skin, it was almost like a pain I don't know I felt was washed away with that touch. I felt him shiver slightly under my touch, this confirmed to me that we both wanted to be where we were. This made me comfortable enough to let go and take the next step.

I let my hands roam his back and his sides, loosing myself completely in the feeling as Harry channeled my thoughts. His hand that had been still on my ribs for so long began to move again. Not up or to the front towards my breast but to my belly, slowly making circles from my side to my bellybutton and back again, never touching the areas that were aching to be touched.

I opened my eyes briefly when I caught him looking at me. His green gaze bore into me, they were burning his love and happiness into me. The intensity of this moment suddenly caught me of guard. It made me whimper with need and crazy for his touch. I had to pull away from him to give myself some space to breath while Harry continued placing soft kisses down my neck. Every few seconds I felt his tongue touching my skin.

I closed my eyes again just enjoying the feeling of his hand and tongue exploring parts of my body. It felt so good that I started to wonder why I had fought it for so long. Why had I been so scared to move on and let things become more physical? I seriously couldn't give myself an answer to that.

My own hand made its way back down again this time not taking its usual path down Harry's sides but the front down the flat plane of his stomach, until they reached the edge of his jeans.

This time it was Harry who groaned softly. It was the most sensual sound I had ever heard, so overwhelming that it made the area between my tights tingle and wet. Never before had I felt a desire so powerful, never before had I felt myself becoming so wet, I just needed him. For a second this need for him was all I could think about. It scared me that my body was capable of such a need, but the touch of Harry's hand and tongue made me forget my worries quickly.

His hand had finally found the courage to make its way up, two of his finger softly touching my sternum briefly. They traced the line of the low side of my bra never really touching my breasts. I took a second to glance down, I wanted to see his hands on me. It was clear that my breasts were aching to be touched, my nipples were so hard I could see them clearly through my shirt. I let my eyes roam further down, stopping where my hand still touched Harry's stomach, my fingers resting on his waistband. His jeans were tight, straining something. Clearly I wasn't the only one with a need to be touched, but I wasn't sure if I could or should.

Harry caught me looking, smiling a sly grin, his eyebrow arched a bit as if he was challenging me to say something. When I didn't he pulled me closer and resumed the kisses. From my toes to my bellybutton I lay against Harry. It would have been nothing new, but it was the first time I was confronted with the feeling of his pleasure against my tights.

My whimpering reaction to this didn't go completely unnoticed as I felt Harry's smile in his kisses. It didn't slow him down, though.

His hand that had been playing with the edge of my bra moved again. One finger now tracing to top of the bra, over my breast. I had to fight everything in me not to take his hand and press it down but I arched my back to make the message clear.

Harry chuckled at my reaction. Teasingly he moved that one finger to the other breast and traced my bra there as well. I groaned softly at the contact. His finger softly moved in circles slowly creeping inwards until he finally brushed my nipple. Even though he was touching me through the thin fabric of my bra I whimpered at the contact.

"Shhh, you don't want to wake up anyone." Harry whispered.

"Harry, please." I begged as I arched my back towards him again. I forced my eyes open again, trying to see if there was any chance of him giving into my pleas. He looked a bit surprised by them but complied. His whole hand touched my breast, first softly but then more firm. I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from making a sound.

Suddenly we heard the floor upstairs creaking. Somebody was walking over the landing.

"Somebody is awake." I whispered as I shot up.

"yes, I think it's your mom." Harry answered.

The realization that we were not the only ones awake brought me back to the present. Suddenly I fully realized what was happening, I looked at Harry, he also seemed to be himself again. I blushed bright red.

"Why are you blushing?" he asked in a soft whisper.

I shook my head.

"You can tell me." He pressed.

"What just happened…" I started.

"you didn't like…" Harry asked suddenly furiously blushing himself.

"No Harry, don't get me wrong. It was very…nice, even better than nice, but what if we get caught? What if we gotten any further?"

Harry looked in concern at me.

"Was I going to far?" He asked.

"No, it's not that, I'm just not sure if I'm ready for more than that, and with the possibility of my mom hearing us…"

"If you're not ready…please tell me, I'll so slow down. I thought you wanted it, you were practically begging for it." He whispered, his eyes searching mine, hoping to find answers.

"I did! I'm just not sure if it's the right thing to do, I have been battling me desires for you from the moment we kissed in McGonagalls office. They are getting more and more difficult to control."

"You know? I have been fighting those feelings as well." Harry admitted.

"You have?" I asked surprised.

"Yes, of course, do you have any idea in what a beautiful woman you are. You have changed so much the last year but all the changes have only made you more beautiful, more sexy."

"I just found out this morning that my body has changed." I muttered.

"It's not just your body, silly girl. It's you in the whole. You have grown up, you carry yourself differently. You are also stronger mentally than before and it shows. It is a pleasure just to look at you." Harry told me as he pulled me back to him. I let his words run through me, they made me feel warm. I had no idea he saw me like that. All the sudden I realized that he didn't looked at me the same anymore, that to him I wasn't Ron's little sister anymore but a woman.

Exactly how I saw Harry since he returned, he wasn't my brother famous best friend anymore he was a man, my man.

"Why…?" I started.

"Yes?"

"Why did you fight your feelings, your desires for me?"

"What exactly do you mean?" Harry asked a bit confused.

"Well, I decided that I am really to young to be even allowed to feel like I feel about you. I'm only sixteen, in my mind that is…was way to young to be even wanting you , physically I mean. But why didn't you just …?" I didn't know how to finish my question, but apparently Harry understood what I was trying to ask.

"The same reason." He said. "I wasn't sure if you were ready, if you even felt that way. Last night when we were talking it became clear to me that you did feel that way, but still I wasn't sure of you really wanted it. I'm sorry that I didn't asked but I got carried away."

"There is no need for apologizing, Harry. From now one we should be more open about it. We should tell each other how we feel."

"Yeah, you are right." Harry sighed as he pulled me back to him.

We lay in silence for a while waiting to hear my mother returning to her bed.

"You can take one of my t-shirts to sleep in, I won't peek while you change." Harry told me once we heard my parents bed creak.

"Thanks." I whispered.

I got up and pulled an old looking t-shirt out the closet, and quickly changed behind the door. It was strange that I felt the need for privacy when I changed into me makeshift nightgown, specially after we had been so close to each other, but then again I had always been a private girl, I guess some things never change.

The t-shirt almost reached my knees so I didn't felt to exposed when I returned to the other end of the room. When I reached the bed I saw that Harry had gotten into his sleeping gear as well. Bare chest and cotton jogging pants. _Did he want me to get some sleep or not?_ When I got in Harry lay down next to me and extinguished the light.

"Ginny, I love you." He whispered as he pulled me too him. "I need you to help me, to show me how to live this life with you."

I felt tears stinging in my eyes at his words, there was no pain in them but a sincere plea.

"I will, Harry, I will."

With that we fell asleep.

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	12. Harry's gift

**After a long chapter now a shorter one...I was planning on making an other long one but as the story got longer and longer I decided to split it. so the next one won't be away long...**

**Thanx for the reviews on the last chapter, I really do love them and I've been planning on thanking you all personally but I haven't found the time to do that yet...**

**Please review this chapter...**

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**12. Harry's gift.**

The next few days flew by really fast. To give us some kind of structure my mom had thought of things for us to do.

She had me and Hermione making lunch every day. I swear I heard her muttering something about feeding your own man. Under any circumstances I hate cooking specially because I'm not allowed to us magic. _Not until your seventeen Ginny_, my mom always says, but cooking with Hermione was fun.

She could do everything with her wand so while Hermione made her magic doing all the things we hated, we had time to do the fun things and have our girl talk.

Not about intimate things, although I still had a lot of questions, but just about normal girl things like our upcoming shopping trip and the vacation.

Ever practical Hermione had made herself a list with things she really needed and things she wanted.

"I don't think I have enough money left to get all this and pay for my school books." She said sadly.

"Yeah, I know. There are so many things that I need, but I'm not going to ask my parents to pay for it. My savings will have to do."

"We'll just have to really think about what we buy. Still, I hope I can get my money, it's still in my vault at Gringotts."

"Oh, I think everything will be sorted out. Harry and Kingsley seem very confident about that."

And they were, twice now Kingsley had dropped by to talk to Harry about money stuff and Gringotts. I didn't want to know what they were talking about but every time Kingsley got here the pile of official looking parchments on Harry's desk grew. I watched the pile grew and Harry sorting through the paper but I really wasn't going to ask about it, money has always been a sensitive issue within the Weasley family and I was sure Harry felt the same way.

While Hermione and me were having our girl talk during our chores the boys were doing theirs out side helping mom in the garden. Ron was grumbling and muttering about it but Harry was the perfect gentleman, always ready to help my mom. He told me it was a good time to practice his new found magic without the chance of blowing up the house.

I overheard him and Ron talk Saturday afternoon when I was helping mom changing the sheets in the bedrooms.

"The girls want to shop Wednesday, do you think we could go to George that day?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, why not. I think George really need some help and it would be fun having a afternoon with the three of us."

"What about Ginny and Hermione, do you really think they will be safe?"

"Yes, I know that Hermione is planning on taking Ginny shopping in the muggle shops of London, she knows her way around there and when they shop in Diagon Alley they will be close by enough." Harry told him.

"Do you really think the muggle world is safe enough for them to go shopping?"

"Ron, don't worry so much, you have seen what Hermione can do and more than that you know how dangerous your sister can get if she uses her cursing abilities. There is nothing to worry about."

They worked in silence for a few minutes when I heard Ron whisper to Harry.

"Hey can I ask you something personal?"

"Yeah, of course."

"It's about Hermione…" Ron stuttered. "you know that she has been sleeping in the same bed as me."

"Yeah, Ron. I know."

"Well, you and Ginny have been doing that as well, have you?"

"Yes." Harry said as he waved his wand over the flowers again. "Ron, just spill it."

"Um… how do you prevent…that she notice that you are…uhm…"

I looked out the window at this point, Ron was turning bright red and looking down at the ground.

"What?" Harry pressed.

"Well, you know, that you are…having a…that-you-are-a-bit-too-excited." He raced out.

I had to work very hard not to giggle, it was so weird to see Ron like that and to hear my brother talk about being turned on by my best friend. Not that Hermione wasn't turning into quite the beautiful woman herself but that my clueless brother was starting to notice it was a bit strange.

"Oh, that." Harry said, surely he was fighting really hard not to laugh as well. "Uhm, Ron maybe you shouldn't try to hide it."

"What do you mean? What do you do than, when Ginny lays next to you?"

Harry snickered.

"Okay, the first I'm going to answer but the second I'll leave to your imagination." Harry said. "Really Ron, I'm pretty sure Hermione wants to know that you have those feelings for her."

Then it was silent for a while and I moved up to the next floor bedrooms, making sure I stayed at the same side of the house so I could hear the rest of their boy-talk. I wasn't let down, as soon as I walked into the room I heard Ron talk again.

"You mean that she would like it that I…"

"Yes, Ron, to her, it will be a confirmation that you want to be with her, intimate, which I'm sure Hermione wants as well."

"Have you…" Ron started.

"Ron, there is a reason your mom is out bed at night and it isn't because she needs to use the bathroom. She hears everything."

After that it was silent and I quickly worked through the bedrooms. Changing the sheets was just one of the many chores my mom had set for us to do. An other step in her attempt to create some sort of structure.

I couldn't really complain about it, as much as I hated doing chores, the time I got to think about things in private was very welcome. Due to the fact that I spend every night with Harry private times were drastically cut short. So during chores I thought about the nights with Harry. I really needed the time to get everything that was happening organized in my head.

We hadn't gone any further than the 'feeling up' stage, mostly due to my mom who always interrupted when things got to heated. Her timing to go to the bathroom was perfect. I was sure she knew exactly what we were up to but in a way I was thankful for her annoying interruptions. I often wondered what would have happened if she didn't decide to walk around the house. The last few nights things really had heated up, our kissed had become even deeper, our touches has been more intimate but every time our hands out close to the most intimate of places my mom got out of her bed. It was like she could see us.

At first I found it very annoying that she would interrupt our little moments but as the days went by I started to panic a bit. I was damn sure we both wanted it but I really didn't know much about sex. I knew the basics.

My mom had told me or at least tried to explain. It was when I was getting ready for my first year of school, my mom brought me a small book and told me to read it before I got to school. It roughly explained the mechanics of how women had children and how sex was executed. Sadly it didn't explain why everybody was so excited about sex. The girls at school, the once who were older than me, gossiped about it. I heard about how much pleasure it could be is it was done properly but also that it could hurt a lot.

So in my hours of doing chores I wondered about it, how it would be to have sex? If Harry knew more about it than me? If there was anyway to have sex without the chance of becoming pregnant.

I had been lost in these thoughts when I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Harry said as he walked in.

"Oh, I was just folding my clothes and put them away." I said as I blushed bright red. He didn't commented on my blush but on my clothes.

"Most of your clothes are green." He said as he looked into my closet.

"Yeah, mom says it looks good with my hair color."

"It does. I just noticed how many green clothes you have. You'd think you're a Slytherin."

I gasped at that and turned to Harry in a flash.

"How could you say such a thing."

"I'm only joking." Harry laughed. "I really do love the green on you and your mom is right it does look nice with your red hair."

"Did you come here to comment on my clothes or was there something else." I said a bit snippy as his Slytherin comment still stung.

"I came here to kiss my girlfriend and give her a present if that's okay with her."

"Oh, I think that is alright."

I walked over to him and waited for him to kiss me. Sneaking his arms around me he pulled me closer, softly brushing my lips with his. As always his touch made me whimper a bit. All to soon he stopped and pulled me towards my bed.

"Here sit down with me." Harry said as he lowered himself onto my bed.

I sat down and turned to Harry, in his hand he held a letter or something. It looked official and I didn't recognize the handwriting. With a soft smile Harry handed me the envelope.

"Open it." He pressed.

I looked at it, there was nothing on it that told me its origin, so I carefully opened it. Inside was a golden key and a official letter. The key slid out of the envelope and landed in my lap, as I reached for it I felt a feeling of recognition but I couldn't really place it.

I pulled out the letter and read it,

_Dear Miss Ginevra Molly Weasley,_

_Here by I'm happy to inform you that we have opened an account for you. This is done on request from Mr. Harry James Potter. _

_The key included with this letter is the official prove that you from now on own fault 255. The content of this vault will be shown to you when you decided to visit us and make a withdrawal, but I'm happy to say the you are now the official owner of one of our 100 "special customer" vaults._

_We look forward to welcome you and explain everything to you._

_Mr. Grobble_

_Head Gobling of Gringotts._

I read it a dozen times before I looked up at Harry.

"You didn't." I gasped.

"Yes. I did." Harry whispered.

"Why?"

"Well, I found out that I inherited quite a lot actually. You know about Sirius's will. The house was just a starter, apparently the Black owned quite a large vault at Gringotts and I found out last week when I was with Kingsley that the Potters also had a lot more than the vault I already owned. Like two additional houses and a highly protected vault. They were to be handed over to me the day I turned seventeen, but to cut things short I could miss some and I wanted to share it with you, Ron and Hermione."

"Do they know already?"

"No, they will never know that it came from me. It would stand between us if they knew and I don't want that." Harry whispered.

"Who does know?"

"Right now, you, your parents and Kingsley. I want it to stay this way."

I nodded and looked back to the key. I couldn't believe what he had done and for a second I wondered how much money he had given me but I didn't want to ask. As I toyed with the key I let my mind wander, this meant I could go shopping for the things I needed without worrying about spending to much. My parents didn't have to pay for it anymore or for school. I would be independent from them.

"Wait, you said Ron and Hermione as well, what about my parents?"

"I asked them but I knew before I asked that they wouldn't except anything from me. I guess I have to settle on paying for their vacation." Harry shrugged.

"Silly man." I chuckled.

"Ginny, tell me what you really think." Harry whispered as he pointed to the key in my hand.

"Oh, that you are silly, that I really don't know what to say but I know arguing with you about this won't do any good because you've already decided that this is how you want it to be."

Harry nodded, "I just want to do something back, it feels like you all have been doing so much for me and this was the only thing I could think off."

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close.

"You don't need to do that, we all did what we had to do."

I knew he felt guilty about pulling us with him into his battle with Voldemort and I was sure he felt even more so now because of Fred's death. One day he would find out that his guilt was completely unnecessary, we all went to war because we wanted to, because we wanted out freedom back, not because of him. Harry had been my motivation to keep going, I wanted my life with him. I knew I would have done anything, give up everything to have that life.

Harry was silent for a few seconds, I wondered where his thoughts had taken him when he suddenly smiled that wicked smile at me. He pulled me down with him onto my bed and started kiss me.

"Thank you." He whispered against my lips.

"For what?" I breathed.

"For excepting this so easily. I expected you to put up a fight." He admitted.

"I can still do that if you want me to." I giggled placing kisses along his jaw. Harry pulled away and looked at me in shock, his eyes were smiling brightly.

"You are absolutely adorable." He murmured and tickled my side. I giggled, screamed, struggled and begged Harry to stop but he held me in a tight grip and continued to tickle me for a few minutes until I was gasping for breath.

Somehow during our struggle Harry ended on top of me, pinning me down, one hand on my ribs the other holding my hands above my head. As I tried to catch my breath Harry watched me, his eyes full of mischief.

Bending down he kissed me just below the ear.

"I know you heard me and Ron talking in the garden yesterday." Harry whispered.

I gasped.

"Was that what you were thinking about when I walked in? Was that why you blushed?" I could hear the smile in his voice. I couldn't answer as his lips moved down my neck, my cheeks started to burn again. How does he know me so well when we have only spend a week together since last year?

Harry looked up to see my face, I tried to hide but I was to late. He broke out in laughter.

"It must have been really weird for you to hear you brother talk like that about your best friend." He laughed.

"You have no idea." I groaned.

"You should have seen Ron blush, it was almost as red as you are now."

"I know, I saw." I whispered. I closed my eyes, praying to become invisible, I so didn't want Harry to see me blushing over something like this.

"I'm curious, do you and Hermione talk about these things?"

I groaned again, this conversation had to end.

"No, and if we did you guys wouldn't hear a word about it." I snapped and pressed my lips against his. Effectively silencing any reply.

I kind of forgot that Harry was lying on top of me when I started kissing him more and more passionately. My mind blanked as I relished in the feeling of his whole body pressed against mine. It seemed that all I could do was to feel. Feeling his lips answering mine, his tongue brushing my lips briefly every now and then, his hand in my hair, the other stroking the side is my ribcage, and his thumb softly touching the side of my breast.

The now familiar heat in my stomach flared and my body was begging for more than just a touch. I could feel my need for something more between my legs, I was becoming very wet for him. Somewhere deep down I knew I couldn't do anything about it, yet. I had to remind myself that we were still in my parents house and that my mom could be lurking around the corner.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who had trouble fighting needs. I could feel Harry's pressed against my tight. Hard and firm. The feeling of his need so close to my center was driving me insane. I could literally feel my heartbeat down there.

Harry pulled his lips away to get some air, the loss of contact made me whimper.

"Ginny." He whispered as he leaned down again to kiss me. His eyes burning into mine, they looked heavy and dark. I didn't recognize the look in his eyes but it made me whimper even more.

Harry shifted a bit so he could run his thumb over the whole of my breast. He softly stroke me, never touching my nipple.

For once this wasn't as annoying as usual, I was to distracted by something else. Harry's shift had positioned him right in the middle of me and his hard bulge beneath his jeans was now pressing against my most private area. It felt amazing.

Harry's sudden touch of my hard nipple made me gasp and involuntary moving my hips upwards. The friction it created made both of us moan loudly.

My eyes snapped open has I heard Harry's soft whimper in reaction to my movement. Our eyes met immediately, both recognizing the step we were about to take. I smiled softly at Harry and moved my hips again. His eyes fluttered a bit but snapped open immediately staring at me. When I repeated the movement he moved as well.

Our movements created a delicious friction, it made my whole lower body feel fuzzy and warm. I heard soft sounds coming from the both of us but I couldn't tell who was making which sounds. It didn't matter because together it sounded so arousing, so sexy.

"Harry…" I whimpered as the heat continued to spread across my body.

"Harry, Ginny! Dinner is ready!"

We both groaned in defeat.

"Seriously, my mom has the worst timing ever." I groaned burying my face in Harry's neck.

"Or the best." He whispered. "It depends on what side you're on."

"Which side are you on?"

"The side who want to throw your mom out and tell her to stay out for a few hours."

I giggled. Harry rolled over next to me and laid down on his back. We were both still breathing heavily.

"Harry?"

"Yes."

"Can you believe this is the seventh time she has her timing perfect. It really starts to annoy me."

"I know, Ginny, I know."

We both sighed and got up to get downstairs.

It wouldn't have been that annoying but the fact that my mom was wearing a smug smile on her face during dinner made me boil inside. I prayed silently for the day that my mom would leave us alone.

_**I hope you liked it because I felt like I couldn't get it right...**_


	13. Clothes

**Thanks for all the sweet reviews...I really enjoy them...if I wasn't so busy writing I would have replied to all...**

**I hope you'll enjoy this chapter...it's a bit of a in between chapter...the next two are going to be full of surprised and after that it's time for the holiday...**

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**13. Clothes.**

Monday started weird. I woke up in Harry's bed but was alone. I knew he had planned to leave early with Ron and Hermione to meet Kingsley before the meeting at Gringotts but it still felt strange to wake up and be alone.

That fact, I figured, was even more strange, it had been only a bit more than a week since the battle, a week since Harry got home safely and already I was so used to being with him, sleeping next to him. It was a bit unnerving to be honest and it made me fear going to school. There was no way Harry and I could sleep in the same bed there. Somehow all the sudden a whole year at school didn't sounded like something to look forward to.

I shook my head to clear out the negative thought. No, a year at school with Harry in totally peace was going to be a blessing. We both just had to get used to being apart for a few hours.

I got up slowly, not in a rush because I knew Harry and the others would be home well after lunchtime and I didn't want my mom throwing jobs at me all day. So I took plenty of time to get started with my day. While I walked to my room to get fresh clothes I wondered about how Ron and Hermione would react to Harry's gift. Would they figure out it came from Harry? I was sure Hermione would see straight through him but as long as she kept quiet, Ron would never find out.

As I looked in my closet to find something to wear, I decided that I would spend my day indoors, cleaning out my closet and reading until Harry got back home. Cleaning out my closet was really needed as it was now overflowing with clothes from the last five years or so. I need to throw away a lot of them simply because they didn't fit me anymore.

After a quick shower I ran downstairs to get some breakfast.

"Good morning." My mom said as I walked into the kitchen.

"Morning."

"It's going to be just us two in the house today." My mom said brightly as she handed me a plate and some bread.

"Oh, is dad working the whole day again?"

"Yes, he went with Ron, Harry and Hermione to the ministry. I don't expect him back before dinner."

"It will be quiet today around here." I muttered not happy that my mom had the whole day to bug me.

"Yes." Mom said quietly, "What are you going to do today?"

"Oh, I thought I would clean out my closet, I have so many clothes that don't fit me anymore. I think I will go through them and see what I want to keep and what I need to buy Wednesday. Hermione made a list of all the things she needs and want, I'm thinking it's a good idea to do the same."

"That's a wonderful idea. Which reminds me, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes."

"You and Hermione are also planning on buying muggle swimming clothes, right?"

"Yes, I really need something new."

"Yes, I know, could you two please get some for your dad and me? I don't want to look stupid when we go to the beach or something."

"Oh, yes, I think we could do that but you'll have to ask Hermione as well, I'm completely relying on her to get me the right clothes as well. I don't know anything about muggle sizes and fashion."

"Me neither but we can't go on holiday to a muggle location without having proper clothes. Specially after this year it's very important to keep our world well hidden."

I nodded, the war had left its trail in the muggle world and anything strange could be a mistake. It would take quite some time for the muggles to forget this episode.

"At least Harry and Hermione can help us."

"hmm, you know, in that bookstore in town, they have muggle magazines. I read the covers once when I was buying the card for Harry, they were all about clothes and fashion. Why don't you go to the store and buy a few. I'm sure there is some muggle money around here."

"Okay, I'll go now." This was a brilliant idea and I got hugely more excited about this day alone. Sometimes my mom did have good ideas.

Mom smiled and got up to get some muggle money. I dashed upstairs to get some jeans and t-shirt on and ran back down. By the time I was back my mom had put down some muggle money on the table.

I picked it up and looked at it. Hermione had explained to me last summer all about muggle money but it still felt strange to have paper in your hands and that it would be worth anything. Gold and silver easily showed it's value, this muggle money didn't. It was weird.

Confident that I still remembered Hermione's instruction about muggle money I turned to the door.

"Ginny, do you have your wand with you?" my mom asked softly.

"Yes, of course."

"Good, if anything happens you are allowed to use it." She said with a worried smile.

"Thanks mom, but I'm sure everything will be alright." I hugged her and left the house.

I was a little scared to go out our safe zone alone for the first time. To be really honest I had never been alone to the town or outside our land, besides from Hogwarts that is. I took a deep breath and stepped through the invisible curtain that protected the Burrow.

Nothing really changed of course, the same sounds hang in the air and there were no wizards or witches in sight. I breathed a sigh of relieve. I wasn't sure what I had expected but somehow the peace and quiet were very welcome. I quickly walk towards the village, I constantly checked my surroundings, I was sure nothing would happen but I remembered Moody's words very well, constant vigilance! Even now after surviving the biggest battle ever I couldn't really let go of that and I concluded that being a part of Harry's life I could never let go of that. He defeated a great icon for dark wizards all over the world, everywhere we would go there would always be danger, there would always be one who wanted to either revenge or become the greatest dark wizard him or herself.

I reached the shop mom talked about quickly and stepped in. Muggle stores were really strange. There was a counter in the middle with on it's left side books and postcards and on it's right a wall full with magazines. The lights and the cash register were powered by electricity. Electricity was really something fascinating and something I would never understand. And I still had to get used to muggle pictures, so still it was eerie.

"Can I help you, dear?" the old muggle lady behind the counter asked.

"Oh yes, please, I'm looking for good magazines on fashion, specially the summer clothing and bathing suits." I asked.

"A young woman like you should know what to get." She said brightly.

"Uhmm, well not really, you see, I have never cared for fashion before but we are going on a summer holiday soon and I wanted to look good." I blushed a bit, hoping that she would believe my half lie.

"Of course." She smiled and came to stand next to me. "Let see, you'll might want to get the Cosmopolitan, seventeen magazine, that one is perfect for young girls, Vogue and InStyle. They will help you a lot." She said as she handed me the magazines.

I looked down at them, flashy colors and big words scream from the covers, pictures showed young women dressed in almost nothing and scanty bikini's.

"Umm, my mom is a bit older can she use these as well?"

"Oh yes, dear, the Vogue is really for all ages. Where are you going to get clothes for your holiday?" she asked politely.

"Oh, in London, we are going there Wednesday."

"London will be great for shopping, it is very fashionable. I'm sure you'll be able to find what you want there."

I nodded, hoping she was right.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, thank you."

I had little trouble with the funny muggle money and left the store quickly. Now, I really was in a hurry to get home and get started on my new wardrobe. The pictures on the magazine cover looked very interesting and inspiring. I could see myself in those scanty bikini's and having my man's jaw drop several inches when he would see them for the first time.

Thanks to that man, I was finally able to go to school and on holiday well dressed, something I had only been able to dream off.

I had no trouble during my walk home and relaxed as I got closer to the house. I was sure it would take some time for me to get used to a more peaceful world.

I got home to an empty kitchen and living room.

"Mom! Where are you!" I shouted around the house.

"Up here, in my bedroom." I heard a soft voice calling.

Quickly I hurried upstairs to show her the magazines. I ran into my parents bedroom and found my mom sitting on her bed covered in clothes.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Well, I'm taking up your plan for today, I have way to many old clothes in the closet, I didn't even know what I had lying around, so I decided today with all the men gone it would be a good day to clean out mine as well."

I turned to face her closet, it was huge and indeed it was overflowing with clothes.

"I think you'll need a lot more time than me to clean that out. How old are these clothes?" I asked surprised as I picked up what looked like a sixties dress with flowers on it.

"Old." My mom shrugged.

"Here lets have a look at these first." I said as I threw the magazines on her bed and sat down next to them. "This one, the woman in the store said, was good for women of all ages."

I handed my mom the Vogue magazine.

For a while we looked through the magazines in silence, both stretched out on the bed. I quickly learned that these magazines didn't only talked about fashion but about all sorts of things, the cosmopolitan even had two articles on sex and seventeen had a two pages article about girls my age and their boyfriends, that was also about taking that big step in bed. I decided I would read those when I found some time for myself. Maybe they would answer some of my questions.

"Oh, Ginny look at this, there is an article about swimsuits for all ages in this one."

I looked at the magazine she was holding. The pages were showing six models each and above stood the age for which the pages was meant. Mom quickly turned the pages to the fifty plus page.

"See anything you like?" I asked.

"I don't know…they are a lot more nude than my old swimsuits." She answered hesitantly.

"Let me see properly." I asked and took the magazine from her. I had to agree most of these swimsuits were cut out too high at the hips and showed too much skin for my mom too wear but there was one piece that I though was really great for my mom. It was a one piece suit but it was made into a dress that covered all the right places. I really could imagine my mom wearing something like that.

"What about this one, I think you could wear this." I said as I handed her back the magazine.

"Yeah, maybe…it looks decent."

After a few hours of ruffling through the magazines I had a pretty good idea of what muggles considered sexy and well dressed, even my mom found things she liked.

"Not that I really need them but maybe for when we are going to be around muggles during the holidays…" she muttered.

"You and dad should go shopping as well, you'll both need things." I said as I got up to face my closet.

"No, I'm going to leave that to you and Hermione, shopping for normal clothes I can do but not muggle clothes." My mom laughed.

My wardrobe consisted mainly out of muggle clothes, I only had a few witch robes and they were for official parties and events, nothing to wear daily like my mom did. As I put the witch robes away I wondered if Harry would want to see me in muggle clothes or in robes. Robes could be very sexy as well, I had seen a lot of witches who wore very will fitted and good looking robes. _Maybe I should buy some regular robes as well to wear at school and when we go out in our world_, I though to myself as I added them to my very short list.

My list now held two items, lingerie and witch robes. The seventeen magazine had a four page article on teenage lingerie and how it would change your body shape and looks if you wore well fitted and good lingerie. I decided that as long as I needed new bra's and panties anyway I might as well do it properly. I hoped Harry would appreciate them is he got to see them.

By lunchtime I had my clothes divided into three piles, one with clothes I didn't want to keep, one pile with things I wasn't sure off and had to try on, and one pile I really wanted to keep. The biggest pile, the one with clothes that I didn't want anymore, I took downstairs while getting some sandwiches for lunch, I added them to the pile my mom had created in the back yard.

"Yeez, mom, you'd think you bought clothes every day, how many clothes do you need." I called to her as I headed back up to my room.

"That's why I'm throwing them away. That way I can make new ones" She shouted downstairs.

I giggled and went back to my room. On a day like this I really enjoyed my mothers company.

I tackled the huge pile of "not so sure" clothes next. I got out of my clothes so that I could try on clothes to see if they still fitted. It took up most of the afternoon but the pile slowly got smaller.

I was still in my underwear bending over my growing list when I heard a knock on my door post. I had my back to it and was busy writing down the last things on my list. I hadn't even heard anyone on the stairs, besides I was sure my mom and I would be alone in the house until dinnertime.

"What is it, mom?" I asked as I wrote down the last word.

"You shouldn't leave the door open if you are dressed like that." I heard behind

I gasped and turned around "Harry!" I squealed, quickly pulling up a dress to hide myself behind.

"I…I didn't expect you back." I stammered, blushing furiously.

"We got everything done quickly today, why are you walking around so damn sexy?"

I whimpered at his words.

"I was cleaning out my closet." I breathed.

"And you do that dressed like that?"

Clearly the dress I was holding up against me wasn't covering everything.

"I had to try some things on to see they still fitted."

Harry nodded and walked into the room, closing the door behind him.

"That's better, I don't want your brother to see you like this. It would be awkward."

"It isn't much more than what a bikini would look like." I shrugged knowing that soon we would all be walking around in as little as possible.

"True, still I like to think that I'm the only man who get to see you like this in a bedroom." He voice sounded hoarse and sexy. His eyes didn't linger on my face but traveled up and down over my body, looking at every uncovered skin they could find.

I felt a great sense of joy and desire that I could make him look at me like that. It rippled through me and with that feeling all shyness left me. I let the dress fall on the floor and walked up towards him.

"Of course, you will be the only one." I whispered as I put my arms around him and softly pressed my lips against him.

"Good." He whispered against my lips. Harry's strong arms pulled me closer and I felt my whole body being crushed against him. It became very clear how much me dressed like this affected him, and it made me whimper even more.

The air around us changed noticeably when it got charged with desire. It almost tingled around us. My fingers found their favorite place in Harry's already untamable hair as he slowly pushed me back towards the bed.

I felt my knee hit the edge of the bed and let myself fall down, pulling Harry along with me. His lips left mine to explore the rest of me. Slowly they trailed down my jaw and along my collar bone.

"I missed you today." He whispered.

"I missed you too."

"I booked the holiday." His words followed by kisses on the hollow base of my throat.

"Hmmm…did you get what you wanted?" I panted, one of his hands found its way to my stomach and was brushing it softly just above the waistband of my boy-short.

"Yes, eleven days, on Lanzarote, the hotel that you like, four rooms, ours is the furthest away form your parents." He had a huge grin on his face when he looked up.

I giggled, both delighted and a bit scared at the idea of privacy, but for now all I could do was focus on his touch and his lips.

Harry shifted a bit to adjust his pants, for the first time ever I noticed why he did that. Apparently something got a bit uncomfortable and restrained down there. For a second my out of control teenage mind wondered if I should suggest that he would just take them off. Luckily for me, there still was a part of my brain that seemed to function, which told me that I wasn't really ready for it. Not yet.

It didn't stop me from letting my hand move down to the waistband of his pants and stroke the area above it softly. My fingers followed the small strip of hair that started at his bellybutton down to where it disappeared under his clothes. One of my fingers followed, it went under his pants only for an inch or so. Harry gasped a bit at the sensation.

His kisses became more rough and wet, his tongue traced a straight line down from my chin to the middle of my chest and up again. As my fingers played with the patch of soft hair at his waistband, Harry moved his hand upwards. Slowly reaching my bra, his fingers playing with the edge of the band.

When Harry's lips made their way down again they edged to the left, after a few kisses they reached my breast. I could feel my nipple harden with the sensation. He kissed the top of my breast for a while as his fingers softly pulled my strap down, exposing even more of my breast.

I could barely move as Harry kisses his way down towards the center of my breast. Suddenly his hand brush it, first softly, just the tip of his fingers, teasing my nipple for a second and than he took my whole breast in his hand. I moaned at the sensation.

"shhh, Ginny, your mom will hear it." Harry whispered as he silenced my with a deep kiss.

He was rubbing and pinching my breast softly through the fabric of my bra. I wanted so much more.

Harry seemed to be in the same place as I was because as soon as I thought about more, he pulled that side of my bra down, exposing the whole of my breast. Harry looked at it for a second and than looked back at me. His eyes were blazing with lust.

He whispered something before starting his trail of kisses again but I couldn't really hear what he was saying. His hoarse voice made me boil with passion, the heat in my body began to spread and I was becoming very wet. I was sure my boy-short would be drenched with in a few seconds if he kept going like this.

His fingers were softly playing with my nipple, it was like he was testing how they felt and how far he could go. When he pinched it hard I gasped, the sensation of pain and pleasure was so good.

"You like that." He whispered.

"Yes…"

He did it again and I had to bite my lip to prevent from moaning or screaming. The more I whimpered under his touch the more confident he got, the more rougher he got. And I liked it. When his lips finally reached my breast again he looked at me. I thought he was checking if I was still okay with this, so I nodded and closed my eyes. Letting the sensation of his lips against my sensitive skin flood through me.

Without even thinking about it my hand reached for the front of his jeans and stroke it softly. I could feel him shiver slightly at my touch and responding with his teeth crazing my nipple.

I wanted to be able to touch him freely, like he was touching me but when I reached for his button a soft knock came from the door.

"Harry! Mrs. Weasley is looking for you, she wants to know about the holiday." I heard Hermione hiss.

"Yes, I'll be downstairs in a minute." Harry hissed back before crashing his head on my pillow.

"Ugh, sometimes I can kill my mom." I said as I gasped for air, trying to stop my head from spinning. Harry chuckled and pulled himself close to me.

"Just a few weeks, than we will find some private time for ourselves." He whispered. "are you coming with my downstairs. Even Ron and Hermione don't know about it yet."

I closed my eyes for a second, I wanted to say 'no' I wanted to keep him here and put a spell on that door so that it wouldn't open again, ever again, but I knew he was right, just a few weeks. I could wait, I think.

"Yes, give me a second to get dressed." I groaned. Why did we always have to behave like smart people?

I pulled up my strap and walked over to the pile of clothes I selected for keeping and dug up a long sleeved dark green dress, that I had found in the depths of my closet and pulled it over my head.

I checked the mirror to see how bad my blush was, those little sexy moments Harry and I shared always left a blazing red trail on my body. It wasn't bad this time, specially since the dress covered up most. I splashed some water in my face to cool of and turned to Harry.

"I'm ready."

"Are that the clothes that you decided to keep?" He asked looking at my not really huge pile of clothes.

"Yes, the rest was to old or didn't fit very well."

"I think you have a lot of shopping to do."

"Yes, maybe, for the summer I don't need much, just swimsuits and shorts, but I have to get a few things for when we go to school again."

"I have to get new clothes as well." Harry said thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll stop by at one of the shops at daigon alley the next time I'm there."

We both walked down the stairs while discussing a new wardrobe for Harry.

"Are you getting only wizards robes, you need muggle clothing as well, specially for the vacation." I told him.

"I was rather hoping that you would bring me something from your shopping trip, I don't want to spend hours shopping, but robes have to be measures and tailored, I have to get them for myself."

"You'll have to give me your size, I can try to find you something. Just don't expect to much, I'm not even sure what I should get for myself."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll figure that out soon enough." Harry laughed as we walked into the kitchen.

The whole family had gathered in the living room. I couldn't remember hearing my dad come home, but I had an good excuse, I was being distracted by Harry. Although I would never say that out loud.

I sat down next to Hermione.

"Sorry." She whispered. "I didn't want to interrupt."

"I know, it's that witch over there." I whispered back, glaring at my mother.

Hermione giggled.

My mom handed out a cup of hot tomato soup and placed a bowl of bread on the table.

"Harry, will you please tell us about the holiday? It's been driving me crazy not knowing where we are going." My mom said.

"Why?" Harry laughed.

"Just because…I don't like not knowing where I will be." My mom almost whined. I hoped Harry would keep this up for a while, as a payback for all the torture she was inflicting on us.

"Have you arranged something?" My dad asked.

"Yes, I have we had some extra time in London today because the meeting at Gringotts went really well."

I giggled at the annoyed look on my mothers face. She wasn't going to get her answer easily now that Harry mentioned Gringotts.

"Oh, yes." My father nodded. "How did that go?"

"Good, actually. They were really annoyed by our break in but after Kingsley and I explained why it needed to be done, they couldn't be angry for long. Business didn't go well during the war and they were happy that it is now over. Still they have imposed some additional rules for the three of us but we can easily live with them."

"What kind of rules?" I asked.

"Nothing major, we have to send an owl the day before we want to visit and we each have a personal guide, with whom we have to stay with while visiting the faults."

"We? Like all three of you?" my dad asked.

"Yes." Harry nodded.

"But Ron doesn't have a fault there?" my dad played along nicely, he really sounded surprised. Ron on the other side of the couch was bouncing to tell his story.

"I do have now, dad." He almost sang.

"Why did you struck gold while camping." I snorted. I had to play along with them for Harry, it didn't matter if Hermione figured it out but Ron would be so difficult.

"Nice." Ron hissed at me. "Actually they had a surprise for us when we got there. Some unknown wealthy person was so impressed with us defeating Voldemort that he or she wanted to thank us. That person donated a lot of money to us."

Mom and dad gasped.

"How much?" I asked superstitious.

"I'm not sure, I saw the fault and I could tell it would be enough to live off for a few years." Ron breathed.

"You're joking." I gasped.

"No really, there was an official letter and all. Ask Harry and Hermione."

"Yeah, Kingsley confirmed it was official and that the money was really meant for us." Harry agreed in fake awe.

We all sat in silence for a while, eating a bit of bread and soup. I tried really hard not to show any sign of knowledge while Rob was still beaming joy around the room. I wondered who had written that official letter, probably Kingsley's assistant. At the ministry it shouldn't hard to make a letter look official.

The fact that Hermione hadn't participated in the whole story told me that she knew what was going on. I looked at her and she winked back, a smile played around her lips. She knew, and I wondered if it bothered her, but I knew I wouldn't have the chance to ask before we were in London.

"Harry, now will you please answer me?" my mom tried again as she placed her empty bowl on the table.

"Oh yes, the vacation." Harry said like he had forgotten about it. His wink directed at me told me he had been enjoying toying with my mom quite a lot.

"Yes, where are we going?" Ron said.

"Wait…you guys don't know yet." I gasped in fake surprise.

"No, of course not." Harry said. "I told you that you were the only one how knew." Playing nicely along. It was so nice to tease the family like that.

"You know?" Ron and Hermione gasped.

"For quite a long time." I nodded.

"Harry!" Hermione smacked him on his arm.

"What? I needed someone to discus this with. Can't I ask my girl what her opinion is?"

"It's not fair, you have known all along and I still don't!" Ron growled.

I giggled and looked at Harry. He looked amazing with that soft smile on his face leaning against the back of his chair, watching his best friend, his eyes filled with joy.

"Okay, okay!" he said. "I'll tell you now. We are going to Lanzarote, to the Magical resorts at Playa Blanca. It's the only hotel for wizards and witches on the whole island. Playa Blanca has some of the most beautiful beaches and a beautiful boulevard to shop, eat and walk. The hotel has a private beach and a few swimming pools. We are going there from the 5th of June until the 16th, everything is included. Food, drinks, transport, everything I could think of."

"Food? So I don't have to cook?" my mom asked.

"You don't even have to do laundry. That's included in the service." Harry smiled at her. "We have four hotel rooms, each couple has it's own and one for George."

"Really, our own room?" Hermione whispered.

Harry nodded at her. "I thought that after what we have been through we all need the privacy to come to terms with things that had happened last year. We need time for ourselves and time to be with the one we truly love, I sure need time to go through this and the privacy as well. I want Ginny to be with me for support and to talk to in private. I thought that this holiday and all the fun it's going to give us would be a good start to do that." He whispered. It was the first time I heard this reason behind his need for privacy with me. We both knew that being freed of my mother would a be like heaven and that we would be free to explore each other but I now realized there was more to it for him. He needed and wanted this time to come to terms with leaving me last year and with still having secrets.

I was sure my parents needed time to relax, be happy and be alone, Ron and Hermione too. They knew what had been happening to their love this last year but for Ron and Hermione all their relationship has knows is fear and battle, ever since they met Harry. Even in the beginning at Hogwarts, they got to trust and know each other through battle and fear, for them it was time to build a relationship based on peace and love.

For me and Harry it was a bit different, we had been apart for a year in which so much has happened. We had stories to share, questions to ask and pain to deal with.

"That's really sweet of you Harry." My mom whispered, pulling me back into the living room.

I knew everybody felt the heaviness of the emotions around the room. Harry's words had been true to the core and everybody knew it.

This holiday was as much a celebration as it was a start of a healing process.

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**Please don't forget to Review...**


	14. Return of the Joker

**Oooh I so hope you'll all like this chapter, it's a lot shorter than I expected it to be...**

**Make sure you read my note at the end of this chapter.**

**to all those who have reviewed the last chapter, thank you so much...**

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**14. The Return of the Joker**

Wednesday morning the four us got ready early, we all wanted to get started, either with shopping or helping George. Bill had visited us the day before and had been really sweet. He had spoken today Hermione on Monday and knew about our shopping trip in the muggle world. He had been the best big brother ever by already exchanging money for us, so we didn't have to spend any of our shopping time to get money. If we had time to shop at Diagon alley I would be covered because I still had part of my savings at home.

Bill had done the same for my parents so that we had enough to also buy them new swimsuits.

Armed with shopping lists and seizes from all the family members Hermione and I got ready near the fire place to take the floo network to George's house and from there we would head into London.

Hermione placed her spell that make me a brunette on me before we left. I had decided to go with brown hair, it was just easier to imagine my own color if I wasn't blond. I thought it would be useful when shopping that I could at least imagine if the new clothes would go with the red hair.

"Please, be careful." My mom said for the thousand time this morning.

"Everything will go alright, Mrs. Weasley. I know where to go to in London and the ministry isn't far away from the shopping street. If anything would happen we will be with Kingsley in a flash." Hermione calmly explained.

Harry and Ron walked in the living room, both wearing old clothes as they expected working with George would be a dirty business.

"Are you girls ready?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I think we've got it all." I said as patted my bag and checked for my wand. Both Kingsley and my dad had told me to take it with me and use it if it was needed. The whole underage restrictions was lifted for those who had fought either with the DA or with the Order, Kingsley advocated that we needed to be able to protect ourselves. Besides, it was only for me and Luna, really.

Mom handed us all a small bag of floo powder to travel back from George's place.

"Will you be back for dinner?" Mom asked.

"I don't know, really. Just save us some if we aren't." I told her. She nodded and hugged us all. I knew it was difficult for her to let us go alone, specially after what happened but she had to get used to it at some point. It was only a few months away before we would pick up our normal life again and she would have to miss us for an whole year, it was really time for her to get used to it.

The trip to London by floo powder was quick but violent. I really hate to travel by floo powder. Not only do you get covered with dust, it makes your head spin as well. Once I actually got sick, that's when I learn that you must not eat too much before traveling.

The fireplace in George's apartment wasn't really big and even I had to bend down not to hit my head. The living room was completely paneled with dark wood and completely stacked with boxes. It looked cramped and dark, I guessed that George wasn't spending much time here.

"Hey, George." I said as I stepped into the room.

"Hey, Ginny. Ready to shop all day long." He shuddered like it was something bad.

"Yeah, Hermione and I are going to be out the whole day I think."

"Rather you than me."

After all four of us arrived George took us down to his work place. A small room at the back of the store which was filled with materials, prototypes and finished products.

"How are you even able to work in this chaos?" Hermione whispered. She was right it was complete chaos.

"I don't know." George shrugged. "I've never been the organized type and I don't know how to get it in order anyway."

Hermione turned around, slowly looked at all the boxes. "I think I can help you with that."

"Really?" George's face lit up and a huge smile spread across his face. "Would you really do that? I mean it would be very helpful if I could find everything again."

"Yes, I will." Hermione smiled. "But not today, I'll do it after our trip to Lanzarote that way you are set for the big rush."

"Oh, thank you, Hermione!" George laughed and pulled her into a hug.

Hermione giggled and wrestled herself free after a few seconds. She beamed at George, her face showing that she was happy to help.

"What are these?" Harry asked. He was pointing at a selection of fake flowers.

"Oh, that's something I'm still working on. It's based on that muggle clown joke. You know, when the clown has a flower in his buttonhole and when you get to close it shoots water in your face."

"Yes, I've seen it." Harry nodded.

"Well, these work almost the same, except when you buy them there's a note with it which contains a code word, the word will activate them. Like I give you one as a present and it comes with the code word 'Happy', and I wish you happy birthday it shoots water in the face of the person closest to it."

We all picked one up to have a good look at them. It was a simple but brilliant idea. I could see a lot of kids getting them for there mother or sister just to tease them. They looked so real, like real wild flowers, they were beautiful.

I heard someone whisper behind me, it sounded like George so I thought it was him talking to someone. Suddenly the flower turned towards me and shot a large amount of water in my face. All the flowers did the same thing to the person holding them.

"George!" All four of us shouted.

"Hey! I didn't do anything." He said with his hands raised in surrender.

"You did! I heard you." I told him angrily wiping away the water with my sleeve.

"I did not."

"Who else than? You are the only one how knows the code word." I spat. There was just too much water and my sleeve was soaked.

"Not the only one." Something whispered behind me, it gave me the chills.

"Aww, George, that was so mean." Hermione said as she pointed her wand at herself to dry her clothes.

"I didn't do it." George yelled.

"Who than?" Harry challenged.

"I did." I heard a bright familiar voice behind me. I turned around and gasped. My knees buckled underneath me and I felt my blood leave my face.

"No!" I breathed, and I wasn't the only one.

"Oh no, please tell me you didn't" Hermione whimpered, grabbing the table for support.

"Hey, it wasn't like I had a choice or anything."

"How could you not have a choice, every ghost I asked told me they decided to stay." Hermione hysterically shouted.

"Yeah, well I'm a twin remember, I didn't have that choice."

Hermione and I just stood gaping. I tried to remember how to breath, cold sweat ran over me and chilled me even more. Suddenly I felt Harry's arms around me, supporting me so that I didn't fall.

"Maybe you should sit down." He said in a worried voice.

"Ah, yes, Fred, I think you should explain it to them when they sit down." George whispered.

Harry took me back upstairs and sat me down on the sofa. I felt weak and shocked. Hermione sat next to me looking as pale as I felt.

"Fred, why? Oh why didn't you move on?" I whispered.

"Mom's going to kill you, you know." Ron said.

"Ah. Yes, that's already been done so she wouldn't be able to do that.' Fred's ghost joked.

It was weird, to say the least. Fred was here like a ghost but not completely, the Hogwarts ghosts were all completely see-through but Fred somehow wasn't, around him it was a bit blurry. It was like more than just his imprint on this world had lingered.

When we all sat Fred lowered himself onto the last empty chair. His fathom hand ran through his hair as he looked at us.

"I guess I have some explaining to do."

We all nodded.

"I'll start at the beginning." He said running his hand through his hair again. "I remember everything really well, the moment the curse hit me. The pain beyond pain, nothing I have ever done could have prepared me for it. I felt like I was ripped from my body, but I didn't feel dead or something, I had the feeling I was still alive not even a ghost. It was something a human should never ever go through. My body was dead but I was still there, still feeling the pain and I panicked. I fled out the castle and into the forest."

Next to me Harry gasped and we all turned to him.

"Ripped from my body…pain beyond pain" He murmured.

"Harry? What is it?" I asked.

"It's what Riddle said."

"What do you mean?" Fred asked.

"When he came back, he told be about the death of his body and how the horcrux thing prevented him from dying." Harry whispered and suddenly looked up at Fred. "You didn't?" he hissed.

"Ho, no. Of course not, I'm the good guy remember?" Fred broke him off. Hermione gasped at that.

"How? How did you know what a Horcrux is and what you must do to make it." She asked Fred in a whispered.

"I heard Harry's explanation in the castle. I was just outside the door but I didn't dare to go in."

"So you didn't make a horcrux." Harry asked, I could tell he was still suspicious.

"No! It's me, Fred, remember, I fought with you."

"Than explain." Harry said a bit calmer.

"Okay, so after I fled the castle and hid in the forest I stayed there, I watched you all rebuilding the castle, hell, Harry, I even saw you get killed by Voldemort only to walk out the castle the next day. I saw the ceremony you held for those who died. Even then I couldn't understand why I was still here, was I a ghost? Why didn't I got the chance to move on? I had so much questions. So after everybody left the castle for the summer I went back in, I needed answers."

"Did you find them?" Hermione asked.

"Not many. As far as I know Harry thinks in the right direction. This is what the whole Horcrux making is based on. Dumbledore called it the twin-soul theory."

"Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, I went to the headmasters office that night, I thought there I would have the best chance to find any answers."

"What's the twin-soul theory?" Hermione asked.

"Well according to Dumbledore, identical twins share a soul, that's why they are so connected. One soul, two bodies. While both twins live the soul stays intact, when time comes for both of them to die one part of the soul waits for the other to move on, or what ever it is we do. Normally it's time for us to die after a long life and most of the times the twin who stays behind don't live very long after that, but because I died way before our natural time, I'm stuck here until George decides it's time for him to go as well.

"What does that mean? For you I mean? Are you feeling pain? Do you feel emotions of your own?" Hermione asked.

"No, no pain anymore, in the beginning echo's of my bodies pain lingered but they were all reactions from my body, not my soul. I can still pick things up and stuff, but I can't do magic, I'm too weak for that. I do still feel my own emotions but when George is hurt emotionally I feel it as well."

"Can't your body be restored? Like Riddle did?" Harry asked.

"I asked Dumbledore that too. He thinks not, a horcrux is created by dark magic and needs dark magic to restore the body the soul belonged to. The twin-soul is, according to Dumbledore, something pure and good and it can't be touched by dark magic."

"Riddle said something about how bad it was for him, without a body. Is it bearable for you?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I feel happy as long as George is at least. For now it's pretty good to be this way. I haven't encountered, besides the first shock, anything I didn't like."

"So, if I'm correct, you'll be lingering here until George dies? Like a ghost, scaring the light out of people?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we figured that because I can move through walls and hide in them like real ghosts I'm now even more an addiction to the joke team."

"Oh, dear. I don't know if I'll ever set foot in your store again." I shuddered.

We all laughed but it got silent quickly again.

"What or when are you telling mom?" I asked.

"I don't know yet." George said.

"We don't want her get either too excited, scared or angry." Fred said.

"That's something to think about." I mused, both men agreed with a nod.

"How did you react?" Hermione asked George.

"Like a chicken." Fred laughed. "He saw me, he blinked and ran off."

"I did not, I just went to the kitchen to plash some water in my face. I thought I fell asleep or something."

"Aww, your dreaming about me, that's so sweet."

"Guys, please focus." Hermione called as all men were laughing very loudly.

"Oh, yes, I was shocked." George said. "I mean I was sure somebody was playing a joke on me. At least that's what you'd expect if you are me. It took him some time, a lot of time, to convince me that it was not a joke."

"Yeah, I think I explained everything five times before he really got it."

"Are you still searching for answers?" Hermione asked.

"Yes and no, I mean I'm now perfectly happy with things the way they are, but some new information that explains this madness even better, I would very much welcome it." Fred answered.

Hermione's eyes lit up, I was sure the moment she said foot back in Hogwarts, she would be in the library researching Fred's theory. She was always interested to learn something new.

"It's still so weird." Ron murmured as he looked at Fred's almost see through form.

"Yeah, tell me about it. I really thought I was gone." Fred answered with a smile.

"How many people know?" I asked.

"Only us." George said.

"Lets keep it this way until we know how to tell mom." I said.

They all nodded.

After a strong cup of coffee to wash away the shock George and Fred finished the tour through all the new product, from which Hermione and I kept a wise distance.

The twins got Harry and Ron a few times with their jokes and soon the men were arguing, muttering and laughing with each other.

"I think it's time we hit the shops." Hermione whispered. I nodded at her, I wanted to get out of here before we would be covered in dirt and other horrible things.

"Boys!" Hermione called over the noise. They all turned to look at us in an instant.

"We are going shopping." Hermione said.

"Oh, yes, when do you think you will be back?" Harry asked.

"I don't know." Hermione shrugged. "I hope before dinner."

"You'll be shopping the whole day?" Fred gasped in horror.

"Yes, just us girls." I said.

"Okay, we'll be waiting here." Ron said.

"Be careful." Harry whispered to me and kissed me softly.

"Don't worry about us, we'll be back as soon as possible."

Hermione and I turned to the door to leave but George called us back. He ran to the back room and was back within a few seconds. He was holding a few pieces of muggle money and a note.

"I don't know if it's enough but could you girls get me a muggle swim short for the holiday?"

"Not you too." Hermione groaned.

"What?"

"We are asked to buy clothes for the whole family, your mom and dad, Ron, Harry and now you." She complained but took the money and note from George any way.

"Look at it this way, you can make sure we all look our best on that beach." George said.

When we left the shop Hermione took a deep calming breath, the twins always got under her skin. Even with one not fully present they made her stressed out easily.

It was already getting warmer outside, I looked up and saw a clear blue sky, it promised to be a nice day.

We walked towards the leaky cauldron to get into muggle London. Diagon Alley was still quiet and a lot of shops were still closed and border up.

"How long do you think before every shop will be open again?" I asked Hermione.

"I don't know, maybe later this summer. I guess a lot of people need some time to get back on their feet."

"I guess. It looks so sad this way."

"Yeah, but it might be different this afternoon, we are still early."

As we continued our walk through the quiet shopping street I thought about the start of this morning. Fred's presence was still a shock to me, and I had to admit I was really angry with him for not letting us know sooner. How you could be angry with someone who was technically dead I couldn't fathom but I was, a bit.

"So, what do you think?" I asked Hermione.

"About Fred, you mean?"

"Yes."

"It's weird, but I trust him that he hasn't made a horcrux in his life. Before Dumbledore told Harry about it I didn't even knew they existed."

"Do you believe his story and the theory?"

"Yes, I do but I have never heard of it. I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts and start researching."

"Yeah, I saw that in your eyes."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your eye sparkle when you get new information and new things to research and read about. You really should consider working in the research when you finish school." I told her.

"Hmmm, maybe. What about your mom, how do you think she'll take this news?" Hermione asked.

"She'll faint, she'll cry, she'll get angry, she'll shout and than she'll try to hug him." I shrugged.

"But will she be okay with it?"

"After a few hours, yes. I think my dad will be harder to convince."

"Do you think it's a good thing he is still around?" Hermione whispered.

"I'm honestly not sure. I think it will be s good thing for George now, but what when George is picking up his life and Fred can't follow the same path. I mean Fred will always be like this and George will grow old, maybe find a girl, have a family. I don't know…"

Hermione nodded, she understood what I meant.

We reached the Leaky Cauldron just when the sun came over the building and beamed warm rays of light down the street. Hermione opened the door slowly and peeked in before opening it completely.

Besides from two witches who were seated at the breakfast table the inn looked empty.

"Good morning ladies." Tom said from behind his bar.

"Good morning." We both said brightly.

"Can I get you ladies something or are you on your way to the muggle world?"

"No thank you, we have a long day of shopping in the muggle world to do." Hermione said with a smile.

Tom nodded and turned to cleaning his glasses again.

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_Author's note: I just couldn't do it...I was so heart broken for George when Fred died... ever since I started this story Fred has been in my mind explaining his theory begging me to get him back in the story. I know twins are very connected and when one dies really early it almost kills the other. the one that stays behind will never be the same again...and I just couldn't do that to George._

_Please tell me what you think about it...if you don't have an account your reviews are still welcome._


	15. Sexy Shopping

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Thanks for reviewing the last chapter, I know my Fred plot was a bit strange and I'm happy that most of you take it. I was a bit worried about that but I have good plans for George and naturally Fred will be needed to support him...

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**15. Sexy shopping**

Muggle London was loud and noisy. It was a good thing that Hermione knew her way because I would have gotten so distracted by everything that I would have been lost in about five minutes.

"Lets head for Oxford street first, I think we will be spending most of our time there anyway." Hermione said as she looked on her map. She had drawn circles around location where she knew we would find the things we wanted.

"You know the way." I said.

Before we got to the main shopping streets Hermione spotted a bookstore. It looked very old and small.

"Oh, lets go in quickly so I can get a book to read at the beach, I need some fiction to get myself lost in."

I nodded in agreement, I didn't mind looking at books with her, if it didn't take the whole morning.

The bookshop was indeed very small and contained thousands of books. While Hermione looked at romantic novels I looked at the books about teens and love. There wasn't anything that really interested me. We had to go to Flourish & Blotts when we got back I was sure I could find something there.

Hermione found what she wanted very fast and within a few minutes we were in the streets again.

"Ginny?" Hermione asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.

"Yes."

"I wanted to ask you, when I interrupted you and Harry Monday, when your mom wanted you downstairs, you two weren't…I mean…you two weren't having…" she trailed of with a bright blush and it took me a second to figure out what she meant.

"No! of course not." I said quickly.

"Oh." She breathed a sigh of relieve. "I just thought…your mom wanted the two of you downstairs as soon as possible. I thought she knew what you two were doing."

"Ooh, she does know but we won't go there with the chance of her walking in on us. Besides I don't think we are both ready for that, I'm sure not."

"I know." Hermione murmured darkly.

I turned to her and grabbed her arm.

"What?" I whispered. "Have you and Ron ever gotten that close."

"No, we live with the same mother remember." Hermione blushed.

"Oh, yes, your right."

"And besides that I really don't think Ron is as forward in his feelings and expressing his needs as Harry is. Harry shows that he needs you in every way just by how he looks at you but Ron just figured out that it's a good thing to have needs."

I had to laugh at that. I clearly remember Ron and Harry talking about showing those needs. I quickly told Hermione what I overheard. When I finished she was blushing.

"Boys really talk about everything, don't they."

"Yeah, like we girls are so innocent ourselves." I giggled.

"Is that why Harry wanted privacy and rooms for ourselves on the holiday?" Hermione mused.

"That's what he said to me. He arranged the rooms far enough from each other to have complete privacy, mom will think it's been done by the hotel but I know that Harry asked for it."

Hermione nodded and stared ahead. I held her arm as we continued to walk, she was so lost in thought that I worried about her hitting something.

"Do you think you'll use that private time to get there?" she suddenly asked.

"I don't know, there are still things I'm worried about. I have to sort through that first before I'm ready for it." I answered honestly.

"Like what?" Hermione sounds honestly interested.

"Well, normal things." I blushed. "To start with I have no idea how or what and if that isn't terrifying enough mom explained where babies come from, mom just forgot to mention how to prevent it and I don't want to get pregnant anytime soon."

"Haven't you been taught how to have safe sex?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"No, you?" I was even more surprised. I was taught at home and there was no way mom would have wanted to teach me anything about sex. A quick talk about where babies came from was almost more than she could handle.

"Yes, the taught in my last year at the muggle school."

"Really? But you were ten, isn't that a bit young?"

"I don't know, it was a campaign to prevent teen pregnancies and they had age appropriate learning material."

"So what do you know that I don't?"

"Well muggles have multiple way to prevent pregnancies, but I'm very sure your mom wouldn't agree with most of them. There is one way, have you every heard the muggleborns at school talk about condoms?"

"No, what are they."

Hermione thought for a while about how to explain.

"Well they are a latex, that's a kind of thin rubber, protective barrier. They prevent the man's… umm, stuff to enter your body."

"That doesn't make sense." I said completely confused.

"I'll show you later today." Hermione said. "So you don't know if wizards have some method to prevent having children?"

"I have no idea, but I think they must have. There are a lot of witches that have boyfriends and don't get pregnant but I just don't know what."

"hmm, I'll figure that one out when we get back to Diagon alley." Hermione promised.

I smiled at her for I knew within twenty-four hours she would know.

I breathed a sigh of relieve, I had dreaded this conversation but with Hermione it was actually quite easy. I really enjoyed having a girl my age around, like a sister or as she already was my very best friend.

When we finally reached Oxford street it was already busy and all the shops were open.

"Lets go to the sports shop first, they will sell board shorts for the men to wear." Hermione said after a few seconds of looking around her. She pointed at a small shop on our right side. I nodded, we would get that out of our way first.

Hermione picked out the right store, there were at least a dozen different types of shorts, all with different colors and different designs on it. Hermione select one for George first, a black one with round yellow faces on it, 'smiles' Hermione called them. For Harry and Ron we selected a knee length short with the same blocked pattern, for Harry a dark green with white and for Ron a dark blue one with yellow.

"We still have to find your dad one." Hermione said.

I nodded looking desperate at the shorts still in front of me. There wasn't any I wanted to see my dad in, all of them were for a younger age class.

"Can I help you?" I heard behind me. I turned to see a salesman smiling at me. I guessed he was a bit older than me but not much, he was small build compared to Harry, and he was looking up and down at my body. Eww.

"Yes," Hermione smiled. "We are looking for a swim short for our father but these all look for younger men, do you have something more age appropriate?"

"Speedo's are over there." The man said lazy, he was still looking at me, at my breast to be specific.

"He is not going to wear speedo and stop ogling at my sister before we walk out of here and not buy anything." Hermione said briskly.

The man looked up at her, completely annoyed but Hermione didn't look away from him, only raising her eyebrow as if she challenged him to say something.

Within two minutes he had selected the perfect short for my father, it was shorter than the boys shorts and one color, we paid quickly and got out of the store.

"Ooh, I'm so happy we didn't go for blonde with you, that would have been a nightmare." Hermione huffed.

I raised my eyebrow at her and we both broke out in laughter. It was a good begin of a long day of shopping.

"Ginny, what do you need and want to buy?" Hermione asked as she looked around at the shops in the street.

"Oh, I made a list like you, I thought it might be handy." I said as I pulled a piece of parchment out my pocket. "Lets see, lingerie, bikini, sunglasses, new jeans, a dress or two, skirts, t-shirts or sweaters and shoes."

"That's all." Hermione asked in sarcasm.

"Like your list isn't as long as mine." I giggled.

"yeah, your right. Well lets get the lingerie and the bikini's first, we can get them in the same shop I hope." As she point to an other small shop.

As we walked into the shop I was overwhelmed with the choices, there was so many different kinds of lingerie. I roamed trough the racks and the displays of bra's, matching panties and bikini sets without really knowing what to look for when an older lady approached me. Her name tack indicated that she was working in this shop.

"Do you need help, my dear?" she asked in as sweet voice.

"Actually, yes." I breathed. "This is the first time I'm buying lingerie on my own and I don't know what to do."

"That's okay, I'll help you. Tell me what you are looking for first, than I'll measure you so we can get the right size."

"Thanks." I whispered. "I want something well fitted, something I think it's call a push up bra or something like that. It has to be sexy and it has to look good under my clothes. I really like that but I don't know if it's something for me." I pointed at what the saleslady later called a lace corset.

"Did you thought about color?"

"No, but I'd like to try on different colors just to see what looks best."

She nodded.

"Okay, come with me to the changing booths there we can measure you in private."

When we walked to the booth I was the Hermione was ushered in the one next to me by an other saleslady. She laughed and giggled at me as she held up different sets of lace and cotton lingerie.

"Okay dear, hold out your arms a bit so I can measure you."

Armed with measuring tape she started to work around me. That was the first time I thought that we as the wizarding community have it easy, we just wave our wand and the tape would do the job on it's own. Heck, you could even make a pen write down the numbers without you having to look at it.

I wasn't really feeling sorry for the muggle saleswoman it just the way the world is but I could see how magic made my life a lot easier.

I heard Hermione giggle in the room next to me.

"What is it, Hermione?" I asked.

"Ooh you have to see this when your ready and tell me what you think." She giggled again.

"I will, give us a second for the measuring."

When the lady was finished measuring she looked at me in the mirror.

"I'm going to get you different sets to try on, is there anything else that I have to consider?"

"Oh, yes, I need two bikini's as well, one appropriate to wear with my mom around and one a bit more sexy." I said.

She smiled and nodded.

Hermione called out the other booth and told me to hurry up. When the saleslady left I stepped around the wall and peeked into Hermione's room. She was looking at herself in the mirror, totally giddy. When I looked down at what she was wearing I understood why.

She was wearing a deep red negligee, it pushed her breast up quite a bit and gave her an awesome cleavage.

"Wow, that looks good on you Hermione, you are going to give my brother a heart attack wearing that."

"Isn't it a bit too sexy?" Hermione asked with a blush.

"No, definitely not. Although I think you might not want to wear that in front of Ron just yet."

"I know, something in between would be better at first, right?"

"To start with definitely but you have to get that one."

I couldn't say anymore because the saleslady who was helping me tapped on my shoulder.

"Ready?" She asked brightly.

"Yes." I said as I turned back to my room.

"Ginny you have to tell when your ready I want to have a look at what you are getting." Hermione said.

"I will."

The sales lady hanged the selection she made up on the wall to show me. She half a dozen sets in different colors, a just plain white set but with lace, a black negligee like Hermione had been wearing, two bikini's and the corset I pointed out.

"Which one would you like to try on first?" she asked.

"I think we should start with the white one."

"Okay, the bra is a push up, like you requested." She told me as I pulled off my own bra and took the white own from her.

At first it felt strange and looked strange as I'd never seen myself with cleavage, but after a minute or so I got used to it. And I liked it, really liked it. I quickly slipped the matching panty over my own to get the full idea. I had to admit even against my pale freckled skin the white looked great.

"Ginny? Can I look?" Hermione asked.

"Yes of course."

Slowly the curtain was pulled aside and Hermione peeked in.

"Wow, Ginny, that looks amazing."

"You think?" I asked still unsure a bit.

"Yeah, have you tried with your shirt over it so you can see the difference?"

I did as she said and pulled over my t-shirt. I almost gasped as I looked in the mirror.

"Oh…my…Hermione I really going to need new clothes for this." I gasped.

"Yeah I thought that as well. I'm sure Harry will appreciate it, though, specially when you get lower cut shirts and sweaters."

I nodded and pulled my t-shirt of again. On to the next set. All of them looked great with or without t-shirt over it. They changed my whole body, they made me look a lot older than I felt and I was sure Harry wouldn't be able to keep his hands away if I wore one of these lingerie sets. The negligee was beautiful and the corset was a huge winner, also because I could really wear it under me school robes. Like really, really, really wear it, it made me look sexy even with that dark bleu sweater over it.

Hermione found sets she wanted to wear as well and we both did get great bikini's. Funny thing was that we both only got the sexy lingerie. Nothing basic, nothing just cotton, all lace and satin. The boys would have a heart attack.

When we left the shop both now carrying two back Hermione though of something.

"I wonder how Ron will react when he sees me wearing any of these sets." Hermione mused as we stepped back into the street.

"You'll have to tell me." I giggled.

"Only if you will tell me Harry's reaction to that black negligee you got."

"I'll think about it, although I will save that one for the vacation."

"Ginny, if you are going to play Quidditch next school year you will need some sports or basic underwear as well, it would be a shame if these get ruined."

"Yes, your right, I'll get them at Diagon Alley later."

"So where next, do you want lunch or are you good for the next store?"

"I'm good, not hungry yet, what about you?"

"Nah, lets do an other shop first."

"Okay." I said happily and we both slipped in the next shop.

There were a lot of clothes, men and women, dresses, skirts, t-shirts, jeans. According to Hermione they were all from good designers and although they were expensive they would last for at least a year or two. Her idea was that it was better to spend a little bit more money on good clothes than less on bad ones that you had to replace after six months.

I listened to her, she was after all the smart one. She helped me with the sizes and soon we were stuck in the changing booths again. I think I tried on twenty different things, most of them quickly thrown aside because I didn't like them but after half an hour of roaming through the racks and trying things on we left the store with another big bag.

"We did good. If we continue like this we will be back home before the boys are ready." Hermione noted as she checked her list.

Yeah, I think I have everything for the summer now, I really wanted to get some things for school to wear as well."

"We'll do that after lunch and we still have to find Harry and Ron some things to wear."

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Oh, and shoes, we really need shoes." I said with a giggle.

To be honest I had laughed and giggled more this morning with Hermione than I had done for the last twelve months or so and it felt so good. I was already looking forward to having more days like these, care free and happy, gossiping about the boys, talking freely about things I couldn't with my mother. After lunch Hermione took me to a store I didn't recognized, they sold all kind of beauty products and lotions, but muggle lotions with chemicals and everything.

"I'll buy proper shampoo at Diagon alley." I heard Hermione mutter as we walked to the counter.

"What are you looking for?" I asked her in a whisper.

"Protection gear." She giggled as she pointed to a small display on the counter. It held small boxes, darkly colored with flashing letters. It was only after I put the letter together I noticed what they were. Condoms.

"Oh." Was all I could say.

Hermione grabbed the small leaflet that hang from the side and handed to me.

"Here, this explains it all much better than I can. I'll start stuttering when I try." She said blushing red again.

I looked at the leaflet and read the instructions and explanation. It was simple and very useful. Sometimes muggles were actually inventing something really smart, a wizard would have thought only about difficult things like potions or spells but this was simple in idea and in use.

"The aren't a hundred percent safe, sometimes a bad one can leak." Hermione muttered.

"Well, it's better than nothing. That is until we find a prefect magical solution."

"I'm sure there is one, I just haven't been interested in it before."

"Should we get these anyway, or do you want to wait until you've visited Diagon alley?" I asked.

Hermione thought for a while before looking at the boxes.

"I'm not sure if they will be used but it's better to be safe than sorry, only I don't know which on to get." She whispered. I blushed as well, I knew she was talking about what size to get and I really didn't want to go there. I knew of course which one Harry and I would probably be needing but still I wasn't sure if I wanted to share that with Hermione.

"Can you make an educated guess?" I asked.

"I think so, can you?"

"Yes."

"Than we just do it." Hermione said decisively. "We have battled war already, this shouldn't be that hard."

But it was, once we left the shop we both were tomato red and gasping for air.

"Lets finish shopping." Hermione said as she quickly stuffed the box away in her lingerie bag. I nodded and did the same.

While walking to the next store I wondered how Harry would react when he sees I bought condoms. Would he even know what they were? I was almost a hundred percent sure he knew, so if he discovered these he would know what was on my mind. What would he think of that? I guess he could see them as a conformation that I wanted to go there with him, but were we both really ready for that?"

"Ginny, you have to stop over think everything." Hermione said as she pulled me into a shoe shop.

"What do you mean?"

"You are thinking about sex, I can see it in your face."

"So?"

"I know it sounds really weird coming from a control freak like me, but you have to let this part of your life go. Just follow your feelings when they happen."

I thought about it for a second. She was right of course, I was thinking thing over a lot, and every time I decided on something I would throw it overboard anyway the next time I kissed Harry, so there wasn't really a point to it.

"Yeah, your right." I nodded. "So, shoes next."

It took us more than a hour to find good shoes, we visited three shops before we came back to the first one. We both got three pairs of shoes. You could thing it was a bit too much but I really needed them. I got a pair of what Hermione called sneakers, black with gold, they would match the gryffindor robes. A pair of black leather boots with heels, not too high, and a pair of slippers for the summer. I thought I did rather well.

The early afternoon shopping went as perfectly as it did this morning. We got all the things we wanted, we found my mom a bathing suit, Harry and Ron got new jeans, I found Harry some t-shirts I thought he would like and Hermione got some clothes for Ron she said she would like on him.

Completely satisfied and overloaded with bags we made our way back to Diagon Alley.


	16. A flash of Reality

_**Thank you all for reviewing my last chapter...I really love the reviews please keep them coming,...**_

_**Next is a short chapter...I hope you'll enjoy it...I'll try to update really soon with something longer.**_

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Diagon Alley really looked a lot better then two years ago. I hadn't been here were since we all went shopping with mom. The grim feeling that held the street and it's shoppers in it's grip back then was gone. The sun was shining and people talked happily about their purchases. The only thing that remembered all of us of those dark times were the few shops that were still boarded up.

"To bad the ice-cream shop is still closed." Hermione muttered.

"Yeah, is there anything known about what happened to Florean Fortescue?"

"No. Not that I know of." Hermione shook her head sadly.

"I hope he just went into hiding, I really can't imagine what the Death Eaters could use a ice-maker for." I mused.

"Maybe he knew things he shouldn't." Hermione whispered. "I really hope he comes back."

"Yes, me too. I miss the happy colored tables on the street."

Lost in our thoughts we quietly made our way towards Flourish and Blotts to get some books for the holiday and I had the feeling Hermione wanted to start her 'magical safe sex' research there.

It wasn't really busy in the shop, a few people were roaming between the stacks of books. The Hogwarts lists still had to be send out so the real rush would come later this summer.

"It would have been easier if we had our Hogwarts lists already." I muttered to Hermione.

"Yes, I didn't even got mine last year." She nodded.

"You didn't got your letter?"

"No, I think they banned me, I'm a muggle born and one of Harry Potter's best friends, I'm sure Voldemort or someone on his order made sure we weren't going back."

"Of course." I nodded.

Once we were in the shop Hermione quickly moved towards a shelve of books at the back, in the mean time I searched for something nice to read. I had a few writers I really liked but somehow through the last year my whole look on everything got changed and suddenly those writers seemed so silly. All the sudden their stories were childish and very unrealistic. They made life looking as if it was simple and crisp while I now knew that it wasn't either.

I took my time for something I would really like to read. A lot of books were silly and so unreal that I didn't look twice at them. _Urgh, why can't anyone write a good book anymore_.

"Ginny, get up here." I heard Hermione call. A quick look around showed me that she was standing at the opposite site of the shop.

"What's up?" I asked when I reached her.

"I was searching for an answer to our little problem and I found this." She whispered as she pointed to a small book.

The book was titled, 'the young witch handbook.', it was small, it looked a bit like a diary.

"And?" I asked

"oh, it's good." Hermione giggled softly. "There are actually spells you can cast to prevent getting pregnant. Here let me show."

She pulled up a page somewhere in the middle of the book, and gave it to me. I quickly read the page, it clearly explained the spell and how it worked. The incantation didn't look too difficult and the best thing was it worked for as long as you wanted it. At the bottom was a small note.

'_although this spell could last for days it is advised to renew it at least every twenty-four hours'_

"Do you think it will work?" I asked Hermione. I couldn't believe it would be that easy.

"Well, the theory behind it is good and solid, the incantation isn't really difficult…" Hermione trailed off. I looked at the page again. Would we take the risk and try or would we go with the tested version of the muggles.

"Fleur would know." Hermione whispered.

"You're going to ask Fleur?" I gasped.

"Maybe." Hermione shrugged. "She must know something about it and she is after all your sister. She fought with us and although I think she is full of herself, she is actually really sweet and caring."

"That conversation is up to you. I'm not going to have that one with her, I wouldn't survive." I shivered in horror at the thought of asking Fleur. I knew Hermione was right but I wasn't ready yet to except the too beautiful girl as a sister.

Hermione shrugged, trying to show that she didn't care but the slight blush on her face showed that she really wasn't too happy about the prospect of talking to Fleur about these kind of things.

"Have you found something to read?" Hermione asked.

"No not yet, I don't know but most fictional stories now look so silly."

"Do you mind if I suggest a few?"

"No, please show me."

Hermione picked up a few books that she told me were really good. I read the summary quickly. Hermione had good taste, although the stories were written long ago and were about people in a different era, they looked promising. I selected two and we quickly paid.

Next stop was Madam Malkin's shop. We both needed new robes and something cool to wear while we were in the wizarding world.

When we stepped into the shop it was a whirlwind of noise and running children. We both stood watching in the door for second.

"Please, close the door before they run off." A man called in panic.

We quickly closed the door and looked at the scene in front of us. An adult man and madam Malkin were trying to catch the two children. The kids were racing through the racks and pulling all the fabrics out of the shelves. It looked like a twister went through the shop. The man was almost crying in frustration.

When the two kids ran past us both Hermione and I acted on a whim and grabbed the children. Maybe it was our luck or they didn't expect us to intervene but we caught them both. They were kicking and screaming so I doubled my grip and held the largest of the two tightly.

"Oh, thank god." Madam Malkin breathed. "they tore everything apart."

The man, I assumed it was the father of the kids, slumped against the wall and let out a sigh of relieve. He looked at us with sad eyes as he whispered a thank you.

Hermione handed the smallest kid back to his dad with a soft smile and looked around.

"Shall I help you clean this mess away?" she kindly offered madam Malkin.

"Yes, please."

It took just a minute or two for Hermione and Madam Malkin to get everything back where it belonged.

"I'm so sorry." The man whispered as he took the other child from me.

"Don't be." I told him. "I've been raised with more brothers than I can count, our house always looked like a twister went through it, it's only natural."

"They have never behaved like this before. Their mom knew how to get them to behave." His eyes started to get wet again, you could literally feel the sadness coming from him.

"What happened?" I whispered.

"Death eaters." Was all he said as he started shaking. I gasped when I realized what he was saying.

"I'm so sorry."

"Thank you. They got what they deserved. They died in the battle for Hogwarts." He said with passion.

"Who?"

He looked at me, the tension of the memory roamed in me, it made me quiver.

"The Lestrange's."

"Bellatrix." I gasped.

"You knew her?" the man asked, looking scared.

"My mom killed her." I whispered.

"What?"

"We were at the fight in the castle." I pointed to Hermione and myself. "We were fighting as well, myself with Bellatrix. She nearly killed me, my mom got so angry that it took only a few second for her to finish Bellatrix."

"You're Ginny Weasley? I thought you all had red hair."

"Yeah, I wanted a change."

"Then you must be…sorry but you must be mister Potter's girlfriend."

I blushed and that was all he needed as a confirmation.

"How do you know all that?" I whispered.

"Rumors and stories were flying around minutes after the battle was won, but nobody knows what it true and what isn't."

"Oh, yes. Yes, I am."

"Could you please tell him, thank you, from me. I know my life seems sad and everything but thanks to him I still have my children."

"What do you mean?" I asked

"My wife was a muggle born, our kids were labeled as halfbreeds by the Death Eaters, after they killed Ellis we got a letter telling me my kids would be send away from the wizarding world so they would never be able to steal the magic from a pure wizard. We fled the minute I finished reading the letter, I didn't even wait, I grabbed my kids and apparated to what I knew was a safe area, but they were on me. The chase finally ended when mister Potter defeated he-who-must-not-be-named."

I tried to smile at him but failed, his story was one we would probably hear many times over the next few years. People needed to tell their story and they would want to be heard.

"I will tell Harry." I promised. "What is your name?"

"Danny Mors. These two brats are Kellan and Mikey." He said with a smile. The kids both pulled up a friendly face and waved at me.

"Hi boys." I said friendly.

"Sir, your clothes are ready." Madam Malkin interrupted us.

"Oh yes, thank you so much and I'm really sorry about the kids. Is there anything that needs repayment?"

"Oh no, it's alright, nothing was broken and we all understand that it's hard to keep kids that age in check and get things done."

"Yes, I'm really sorry."

We watched mister Mors and his sons leave, we stared at the door for quite a while when Madam Malkin spoke.

"This isn't the first time somebody so broken by the Death Eaters came in and it won't be the last. You really must thank mister Potter from all of us. We all are very grateful for what he did." She whispered.

Hermione and I both nodded. I could feel my face turning sad, this was only a glimpse of how the war had effected families and how the world was changed. It was easy to forget the outside world wrapped up safely in the Burrow, safely in Harry's arms. It would become increasingly hard when we would return to school, so many stories lay there waiting to be heard.

"Oh, yes, can I help you girls?"

"Yes, please." Hermione said. "We both need new robes for school and some new regular clothing."

It was typical Hermione to think of new robes for school, but it would indeed be nice to have new robes for school, really new ones not second hand clothes.

Madam Malkin had a wide arrange of designs for witch clothes and it took us longer then expected to select a few. I really didn't know where to start, but somehow I ended up selecting a few designs I really liked.

Magic was a good thing when you were in a hurry, it took madam Malking only ten minutes for each of us to make the clothes we selected.

The first of my selection was a dress with a corset already in it. It was dark green with red, and it looked amazing once I had it on. It went all the way down to the floor and it was decent enough with showing cleavage.

The other dress I selected was typical for a young witch and looked a bit like dresses I use to have, only it was cut low enough to be incredible sexy and very well fitted to show enough curves.

Hermione looked stunning in her new dress. It was a dark shade of purple and very practical, not too long and snug to her body. She also selected a knee-length skirt and sweater.

Our school robes were finished quickly and with two additional bags we left the shop.

We walked silently and slowly towards George's shop both lost in thought.

"It's just so sad." Hermione whispered after a few minutes. I didn't need further information to know what she was talking about.

"Yeah, I just realized how cut off from the world we have been the last two weeks. Yes, there was the issue with the werewolf but this makes everything even more real."

"Hmm-mm, it's like we have lived in a bubble for a whole year. Like on a other planet."

I gasped as I realized what she meant, "You didn't know what was happening at all?"

"No, not really, only one time we heard the radio show, and at one of our campsites we overheard some wizards and Goblins talk but besides that we didn't know."

"How did you kept the will to fight? I mean you three were free, out of sight, nobody knew where you were, why did you stay? why did you even considered to fight when you could have lived freely?" I wondered but I knew the answer before I asked

"Because we were never really free. Harry was the most hunted person in the world and leaving would mean we would be on the run for ever. Besides that we all had people we loved being hurt or dyeing around us, there was never an option of leaving."

I nodded, it was like that for all of us, rumors, deaths, attacks and fear but never the feeling of wanting to give up.

"It will take a long time before everybody dealt with the pain of this war." Hermione muttered.

"I know, but living at the Burrow keeps us in a kind of bubble. Like we are completely out of the real world. I think it will be harder for all of us when we go back to Hogwarts."

"Yes, the castle holds a lot of memories, good and bad. I think it will be hard for all of us but specially for Harry."

"Hmm-mm, we'll just have to take it slowly. At least he can get away a few times a week."

We both walked in silence for a while until we reached George's place. Loud noises and laughs came from the other side of the door.

"Do you think it's safe to go in?" Hermione asked.

"We have to, we promised mom not to be home too late, and it's dinner time already."

Hermione pushed the door open and peeked around the corner.

"And?"

"It looks safe." She whispered. "It sounds like they are in the back room."

We both walked carefully and silently towards the sounds.

We found the boys having a laugh at George, he was trying out one of his new inventions. It really looked silly, he was wearing a hat which changed shape every ten second or so. Some shapes were normal but others were just so silly that both me and Hermione giggled.

"Finally, they're back!" Ron said.

"Where were you for so long?" Harry asked.

"Shopping." Hermione and I replied at the same time, both holding up our too many bags.

"Wow!" the three men and Fred's presence breathed.

"Yeah, well, we needed a lot of stuff. At least four bag are for you guys and mom and dad." I defended our crazy shopping spree.

"Did you find everything?" Harry asked as he toke a few bags from me.

"Yes, the black plastic bag is for you. The brown big one for mom and dad, and this one is for George." I said as I threw a purple one towards George. He immediately looked in the bag.

"Nice!" He said as he held up the swim short. We also got him a few t-shirts we thought matched his personality. He liked them all.

**16. A flash of Reality**


	17. Contacts

**I love my readers so much, you guys/girls have been begging me to hurry up with the next chapter...it has been really motivating... the next chapter is quite long and I have been thinking about spliting it up in two...but when i read it after editing I decided to keep it as one whole...**

**Dates are added at the top of the chapters to keep track of time and time lines...as I sometimes skip a few days...**

**Please keep the reviews coming,,,, I hope you enjoy this chapter..**

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_1st of June 1998_

Over the next few weeks time raced by quickly.

First off, I had hidden almost all my new clothes so Harry wouldn't see them until we were on Lanzarote. I wanted them to be a surprise, specially the lingerie and skirts I got. Only a few items I had been wearing regularly, the more decent ones. I was sure Harry would like my selection for the vacation.

Annoyingly I didn't get see much of Harry, or Ron and Hermione the weeks after our shopping trip. The Wizengamot had started the trails for the captured Death Eaters, so Harry, Ron and Hermione were present there a lot. They felt it as their duty to be there.

I on one hand, was happy they had started the trails and hearings so early, with every horrid detail fresh in people's memory the Death Eaters would be severely punished for what they did, but on the other hand, it meant that I had too much alone time. Or to put it differently too much time with my mom.

At some moments I was more then ready to run and go to Hogwarts early. Sometimes she just really got on my nerves.

I didn't complain about chores she asked me to do, because they made the day go by fast, but when ever she wanted to talk, I flinched away.

Mom had found out about the room arrangements for the holiday and wasn't happy about it. She begged Harry to contact the hotel owner to ask for rooms close to each other or a bungalow. Luckily Harry didn't give in. Only now it meant that she felt the need to gives all four of us lessons in responsibilities, about sex and about what it meant to be intimate.

_Yeah, thanks mom, a little late for that_.

Harry had been at the ministry for two day in a row when I first was confronted with my mom's need to have the real "talk".

I was sitting outside, helping my mom preparing for dinner when it all started.

"Ginny, we need to talk." She sighed.

"About what?" I asked, I was a bit surprised by her seriousness. Only a few seconds ago we had been talking about Teddy and how fast he had been growing lately.

"About you and Harry."

I shot her a dirty glance, sure as hell she wasn't going to comment on us being together.

"Ginny, don't give me that look." She snapped, "as a mom I have to right to talk to my daughter about her boyfriend."

I raised my eyebrow at her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"About the fact that ever since we got home I have to prowl the landings to prevent any of you making a mistake."

"A mistake! Come on! Mom. It's only a mistake in your head, it's only normal for people in love to wanting to be intimate."

"Yes, Ginny, but between being intimate and having sex is a large gray area and I know you guys have been grossing into that area quite a few times."

I got angry at her assumptions, although she had a general idea of what happened in her house, she didn't know a damn thing about what Harry and I were doing at night. Her calm voice and smug knowing look on her face fired me up even more.

"Mom, you don't know a thing about Harry and me, or Ron and Hermione for that matter. Do you really think that any of us is in the mood for things like sex after Ron, Hermione and Harry come home from a day in court. After hearing and sharing horrible stories, some more gruesome than a fantasy author can come up with." I hissed at her.

"I know they are going through a lot right now but that doesn't change the fact that you need to be told about some facts, facts about having an intimate relationship, a king of relationship I think you are way to young for."

"Mom, just stop! This is my life, my choices and my relationship. I don't want or need your advise."

With that I walked away from the table and headed upstairs. I had it with her. At that moment I was so ready to beg Harry to take me away from here, I wouldn't even mind living at Grimmauld place if it meant getting away from that old bat.

When Harry got home that evening I forgot all my anger as he walked in, he looked so pale, tired, sad and worn out. it was clear on his face that the day at court had been particular hard. I knew that they had interviewed victim after victim about the horrors they had faced, Harry had given me the schedule for the hearing.

After dinner, as soon as possible I took Harry up to his bedroom where I held him in my arms, calmly waiting for him to let it all out. I didn't have to wait long for the tears that now flowed daily, but longer than the other days Harry cried. It took him more than a hour to collect himself a bit.

"It was so awful, Ginny. The things they described." He whispered.

"Do you want to talk about them?" I asked softly as I ran my fingers through his hair.

"I'm not sure, I don't want to have you know all these things."

"Harry, I'm almost seventeen, almost a legal adult, I can handle it. Besides how am I going to be able to be there for you if I don't know what you have to deal with?"

So that night Harry told me all about the stories he heard. About a young witch, who had to watch Death Eaters torturing her muggle husband to death before they took her children away. She still didn't know where her kids were or if they were still alive. He told me about an old warlock they had tortured. The poor man couldn't even remember his own name. There were stories about house-elves and goblins being forced to do horrible things for their masters.

Each story was more gruesome as the other. At some point I wished Harry would stop talking but I knew I had to suck it up for him. This was his way of dealing with the stories but also with his own guilt. After every story I had remind him that it wasn't his fault, that he had done what he could. He needed to hear that over and over again.

If I thought the first week of hearings were hard, it was nothing compared to the next two. Victim after victim was heard, story after story surfaced, still new names of dead people reached us. It gotten to the point where I insisted on Harry not going until he got some decent sleep. Of course he wouldn't listen, after an other night of talking, sobbing, and sleeping through nightmares Harry got dressed and joined an even more tired looking couple for their trip to London.

Ron and Hermione were having a hard time as well, they did have each other to talk to but I could tell they both needed a break as well. Every day when she got back Hermione would have red blotches all over her face and Ron looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, he looked sick.

As I stood in the window watching them go I decided it was time to put a stop to this, it was summer, we needed time before heading back to school, we needed to be rested to be able to deal with the memories Hogwarts would bring back to us.

I ran to my room and grabbed a piece of parchment, sitting down at my desk I began to write.

_Dear Kingsley,_

_I know the trails keep you busy but I hope this letter reaches you today. I also know that the trails and hearings are really important, we all want the Death Eaters and criminals punished as soon as possible, but it's killing Ron, Hermione and Harry._

_They barely sleep, when they do they have nightmares, they don't take time to eat and they cry a lot. I literally begged Harry not to go and get some sleep but you know him as well as I do, his guilt keeps him feeling obliged on being at the trails. Same goes for Ron and Hermione._

_I wouldn't ask you this if I thought it wasn't necessary but please could you kick them out of the trail room, at least one day before our vacation starts. They all need a break. _

_I would be forever grateful._

_Ginny Weasley_

I read the letter a couple of times to make sure it was decent enough to send to the minister for Magic. Kingsley would understand my plea, and besides I was sure he needed a break as well, he had been in with them the whole way. I send the letter with Pig, for the first time in a year he finally got to do something and was overly excited about it.

"Make sure you bring this to Kingsley when Harry is not with him. Ron, Harry and Hermione can't see you." I hissed at him.

He hooted and nibbled my finger as if he wanted to show me he understood and I truly hoped he would.

The rest of the day passed slowly as I waited for Pig's return, hopefully before Ron and Harry would. Hermione had returned early in the afternoon. She was so worn out that me and my mom had to carry her to the sofa and lay her down. She fell asleep before mom could ask if she wanted something to drink.

While my mom worked to clean the house and prepare dinner, I stayed at Hermione's side. Deep asleep she would dream, dream of the horrible things she had heard during the hearings. Every now and then she whimpered or wailed and I would stroke her hair and whisper to her. I tried to comfort her as much as possible. After an hour she sank in a deeper sleep and the dreams stopped. She didn't even hear Pig returning.

I quickly caught the little owl and stuffed his loud beak with a snack. I quickly opened the letter he had been carrying.

_Ginny, Thank you for reminding me that sometimes we do need some rest._

_Besides Ron, Hermione and Harry, I'm exhausted as well and in need of a break from the courtroom. _

_I will make sure that tomorrow there won't be any hearings and I'll talk to Harry about him feeling the need to be here, I will tell him that he don't have to be here every day and that it's not his duty._

_Thank you again for reminding me._

_Have a fun day tomorrow._

_Yours,_

_Kingsley_

I took a deep breath and sighed in relieve. Tomorrow would be our day. Harry would sleep until late in the morning and we will go do something fun.

Hermione woke up shortly before dinner, the boys weren't even home yet and I had the sinking feeling they wouldn't be until well after dinner.

"Wow." Hermione breathed as she opened her eyes.

"Hey, sleepy head." I whispered.

"How long… is Ron…?" She whispered.

"You've been sleeping for more than three hours, and no, Ron and Harry aren't back yet, but dinner is almost ready." I answered her, knowing that, that was what she wanted to hear.

"Ron and Harry will be close to death when they come home." Hermione said worried as she looked at the clock.

"You guys should have listened to me and should have stayed in bed." I grumbled.

"We need to be there, Ginny."

"No, you don't. I remember very clearly somebody telling you three that if you were needed they would send an owl for you. You three have been gone now every day for three weeks, no sleep, no food and only tears." I ranted.

Hermione looked at me for a while. She looked better than she had been doing the last week or so, I guess sleep does that to you.

"Ginny is right, Hermione." My mother whispered from the kitchen door. "You don't have to be present every day, I know you feel like it's your duty but it isn't, let the Wizengamot deal with the Death Eaters, your only duty now is to finish school and be happy."

Her words were gentle, and for once I heard my mothers wisdom in her words. She was right our only duty now was to be happy. I would tell Harry that tonight.

When Harry and Ron got home they really look dead on their feet.

"At what time do they start tomorrow?" My dad asked as we all sat with them at the dinner table.

"There won't be a trail day tomorrow, Kingsley insisted on waiting with the next hearing until next Monday. He said everybody needed time to think things over." Harry answered.

"That means you'll be here for the rest of the week." I almost shouted happily.

"I guess so, but I do have already thought of some things to do."

"Like what?" I asked shocked, couldn't he just relax for one day.

"Well, I wanted to check out the houses from my parents will and I'm sure you wanted to come with me, so that's on the agenda before the vacation and perhaps we could visit Teddy, I would love to see him grow up as much as I can."

"Oh, that's all." I said oozing with sarcasm, "well I have plans for us as well, for tomorrow, so don't get it in your head to plan something."

Harry looked at me, the frown on his face told me he was thinking really hard.

"You knew that Kingsley would call a halt to the hearing?" He asked.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Because I reminded him that some people do need to rest every once in a while. Even wizards and hero's."

"You did what?" Ron asked almost angry

"Ron, please don't get angry. For a week now you guys have been more dead than alive. The horror stories you guys listen to daily prevent any kind of sleep or rest. Don't even try to deny it, I heard you at night, moaning and whimpering in your sleep, all three of you. Hermione got home today not even able to stand up straight, she crashed and slept for three hours straight, whimpering and crying in her sleep. Enough is enough. So I wrote Kingsley this morning to ask him to please kick you butts out of that courtroom and tell you to live."

Everybody was looking at me while I was ranting.

I was trying to take a deep breath and calm myself as I waited for the others to reply. My rant had reminded me how angry I was with the three of them for not listening to me, for not listening to what was good for them. They all looked upset but at that moment I really couldn't care if they were angry with me for contacting Kingsley, all three of them could be angry all they wanted, I did it for them because they were suffering.

When nobody said anything I felt the tension in the room growing. It got to a point that I couldn't take it anymore, I stood up and walked out of the house.

Taking in the fresh warm summer air I started to relax a bit.

I walked into the garden, behind the door I heard my mother talk but I wasn't interested in what she was says. I was sure she agreed with me but all Harry had to do was smile at her and her will and opinion would crumble.

Once I was away from the house I was able to completely clear my head. It had been childish to walk away so angry, deep down I knew that, but the possibility that Ron or even Harry would be angry with me for protecting them irked me. They would have done the same if it had been me, I was sure of that, so they had no reason to complain.

When I reached the orchard I realized I was getting myself worked up again by thinking about the possibility of Harry being angry with me, so instead I tried to think about my plans for tomorrow. I had been thinking about taking Harry out for a picnic. There's a place close by a river where nobody ever comes, it's beautiful and peaceful. I even had the clothes I was going to wear picked out in my mind.

As I sank down against my favorite tree I wondered if Harry would even want to come or if he would be too angry with me for my interference with Kingsley.

He could be angry all he wanted, it wouldn't change the fact that I was right about getting them take a break. I could deal with him being angry.

I closed my eyes for a second and tried to breath deeply, trying to relax but who was I kidding, really, I would hate myself if Harry was really angry with me. I would be really upset if he thought I was being selfish by contacting Kingsley.

"Ginny?" I heard Harry calling.

"Here! By the tree." I called back, knowing he would know which tree I meant.

I kept my eyes closed as I heard his footsteps approach, I prayed that when I opened my eyes I wouldn't be looking in the stormy angry version of Harry's green eyes.

"Ginny?" he whispered as he stopped next to me.

"What is it, Harry?" my voice hitched but I kept my eyes closed.

I heard movement but his touch startled me. He picked up my hands and kissed them softly.

"Open your eyes." He whispered. I did as he asked, being immediately overwhelmed by the closeness of the loving version of green.

"Thank you." He said as he kissed me softly. "Thank you for taking care of me, of us."

"You're not angry?" I had to ask but it barely came out.

"Of course not, I should have listened to you this morning, today was brutal and being so tired only makes it harder. You were right, we all need a break."

I just looked at him, I really had no idea what to say to him. I could have gloated about me being right but that wasn't me, I could have told him, "_I told you so_." But that wasn't me either.

"Did mom tell you to say that? Because both you and Ron looked angry back in the kitchen." I whispered. I wanted to be able to say it with power, like I was angry but I couldn't, all fight in me was gone. All I wanted was for Harry to take me in his arms and promise me to listen to me in the future.

"Your mom did preach to us about how you were right but I knew it from the moment that rant left those beautiful lips of yours."

His words stirred the butterflies in the pit of my stomach and made the air sizzling with a good tension between us.

"If you find them so beautiful, you better make sure that you are using your free time this week to kiss them." I breathed. And he did.

He knelt down besides me and pulled me close to him, softly his warm lips brushed mine, first slowly, step by step he was pulling me in deeper until I could swear steam was coming from us. Locked in our deep passionate kiss our tongues brushed and I was getting dizzy from his taste, and of course, lack of air.

"This okay?" he whispered as we both took a breath.

"Harry, I need you so much and I want you like this so much."

Suddenly he pulled me with him as he rolled over on his back, landing me on top of him. With his arms tight around me he peppered my neck and face with soft kisses, which made me giggle.

"Ah, there is my girl again. You looked so sad."

"I know, I was afraid you would be angry with me." I admitted.

"No, I really wasn't. I was surprised that you contacted Kingsley but mostly grateful that you are protecting me from myself."

"That's what I'm here for. You really need a break."

"You have always been there for me, even when I didn't realized it."

My reply was cut off as he pressed his lips against mine again, I could literally feel the love Harry felt for me flowing from him through his lips into me. When he pulled away he smiled at me.

"Do you realize that I don't have to go anywhere until after the vacation. Kingsley just banished us from the ministry until we get home from Lanzarote."

"Did he really?"

"Yes." Harry shook softly as he chuckled at the memory. "so, the question now is, what are we going to do with all that time. You said you have plans."

"Yes, for tomorrow." I said, as I couldn't resist dragging my tongue softly over the soft spot under his ear, it made him shudder slightly.

"Will you tell me, or is it a surprise?"

"Well, I can tell you that the two of us are going to get out of this place, mom has been driving me crazy so I really need to get away only if it's for a few hours. We are going to have a picnic, just us, spending some time together. Where it is I'm not going to tell you yet."

"A picnic, that sounds really nice."

"Yes, just to two of us, mom can harass Hermione and Ron with her lessons in responsibilities and sex." I grumbled, still deeply embarrassed by that thirty minutes of my life.

Harry chuckled again.

"It's not funny, Harry!" I said as I tried to sit up so I could get him back for laughing at me but the cheater kept his strong arms around me.

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't, wait until she gets to you. You'll be blushing furiously when she is finished with you."

"I don't think she will." Harry said, stopping an other chance of me replying with his lips again. He really was such a cheater but I wasn't about to complain, it had been over two weeks since we had some carefree moments. I was going to enjoy this moment.

Laying down in the grass we talked about Harry's plans for visiting Teddy and the two houses he now owned. He had been thinking about visiting those houses after the vacation but with five days of doing nothing left we both agreed that we should go now. It would be better for the both of us not to be locked up in our own Burrow bubble. We needed to start living in this world, our world, the world we fought so hard for.

It was well past midnight when we made our way up to our bedroom. On the landing we bumped into Hermione.

"Oh, Ginny, thank you so much." She said happily.

"For what?" I was to tired to even think straight.

"For taking care of me, us. For contacting Kingsley and for being by my side while I slept this afternoon. Your mom told me what you did for me, sitting next to me, telling me it will be fine. I'm sure that made my sleep so relaxing."

"Hey, that's what sisters do for each other, right."

"Ron already sleeping?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, he crashed at the dinner table. Mr. Weasley brought him upstairs, I'll go to him now."

"Yes, do that. Sleep well."

"Yes, Sleep well, Hermione."

"You two as well. See you tomorrow."

Harry slept through most of the morning the next day. It had been well past three in the morning before he fell into a deep sleep that made it possible for me to sleep as well but I woke up an hour before he did. I didn't want to wake Harry, he needed some extra hours of sleep.

Taking that extra time to prepare our picnic I headed downstairs in my nightgown to make sandwiches and Juices. Mom helped me by baking muffins and a small cake. I was just finishing the basket when I heard Harry and Ron talk on the landing.

"I'll finish this, Ginny." mom said, "You go and get yourself dressed."

Not needing her to say that twice I dashed up the stairs, kissed Harry on the top step and skipped into my bedroom.

"What's up with her?" I heard Ron asked.

"I think she's excited about our plans for today."

"You have plans?"

"Ginny has. She's planning on taking me somewhere for a picnic. She said you and Hermione would like to spend some time together with your mom."

Harry's words made me laugh so loud that I was sure Ron heard it but I couldn't care less. I quickly retrieved one of the bags with my new clothes and dug up the bleu with white summer dress I bought. Paired with one of my new lingerie sets, bleu lace push up bra with lace panties, I dressed myself in record time.

I quickly glanced in the mirror to see if I looked decent enough for my mom to let me out of the house. I did. The dress was shorter than I was used too, but long enough for mom and there wasn't to much chest area showing either. After a quick brush of my teeth and hair I raced back down.

"Ready?" I asked Harry when I skidded to a halt in the kitchen.

"I haven't eaten yet."

"What do you think is in that basket. Come on, lets go." I grabbed his hand and pulled him from the table towards the door.

After some quick goodbyes we headed for the forest. It was sunny and already warm, after the last two gray and misty summers nature seemed to make up for all those lost sun hours. It was going to be the perfect day for a picnic.

"You look so happy." Harry commented when I giggled.

"I am, I finally got away from the house without mom freaking out and I get to spend the whole afternoon alone with you. What's there to not be happy about?"

"I can think of a lot of things." Harry murmured.

I pulled him to a halt, I wasn't having any of that today.

"Harry, I know you can, and I know there are a lot of things to be unhappy about, but please, not today. Today is for us." I hoped he would listen and forget his worries for an afternoon.

"Okay, I'll try." He said after a long silence.

I smiled softly and kissed him for a second before turning back to the path we were taking. It run down to the river, to a place I found when I was really young and got lost in the forest. I hadn't been there for the past two years and I hoped it still was as quiet and peaceful as it had been all those years before.

When we reached the river I let out a sigh of relieve, the war hadn't impacted this special place. I turned to Harry to see what he thought about it.

"What do you think?" I asked, "good place for a picnic?"

Harry nodded, still looking around. I wondered briefly if he was looking for dangers, knowing Harry, he was. So I grabbed the blanket and lay it out in the grass.

"Here, come sit with me."

"Ginny…" Harry started, he was looking worried.

"Harry don't start with me. Just come sit with me and have breakfast." I cut him off. He had to learn how to be out in the world without being constantly afraid. After a few more minutes of pacing and glancing around he sat down next to me.

"Just try to relax." I whispered as I run my fingers down his back.

"I'll try I promise, it's just being out in the woods brings back memories."

"We are only a fifteen minute walk away from the house, we can go back when ever you want." I promised.

Harry looked at me for a while, it was like he was thinking about wanting to go home, but suddenly he relaxed and smiled at me.

"No, we'll stay here, it's perfect, so peaceful. I just need some time to adjust."

"and some food." I pointed out. He was still too skinny from his year without my moms cooking, he needed to eat better than he had the last seventeen years.

I grabbed the basket and pulled out the sandwiches I made and handed one to him.

"Thank you. These look so good."

We ate in silence for a while, just enjoying the first beams of the sun that stared to get over the tree tops. The birds were making a lot of noise and it was lovely.

When I finished my sandwiches I lay down on my back and closed my eyes. Enjoying the warmth of the sun. I heard Harry move, fumbling with the basket but I didn't look up, I would give him time to adjust to be out in the open.

Somewhere back in my mind I knew I should be a bit scared as well, with still so many death Eaters on the loose but I couldn't feel it, all I could feel was this steady hum of tension between Harry and me. Sexual tension to be exact.

Laying on my back with my eyes closed I felt a hand brush my cheek softly, the tingling feeling it left behind made me smile. The hand was followed by two soft lips, they caused even more tingling. They followed my jaw from ear to ear, placing soft kisses.

"These new clothes of yours look beautiful on you." Harry whispered.

"Thank you."

I felt his fingers running down the straps of my dress and bra.

"Hmm, this is new as well." He murmured.

"Do you approve?"

"Very."

"Good because I got more surprises like these for you."

I heard Harry gasp but he didn't say anything so I just kept my eyes closed. I enjoyed the feeling of his fingers on my skin immensely. It made me tingle in every part of my body. As they traced the line of my dress they softly touched the top of my breast, I had to fight hard not to spin out of control with the desire for more. Harry let his fingers pause in the center just on the valley between my breast. Just for a second but long enough for me to want more, to want him to move on to the next breast.

Suddenly I felt his lips softly on my skin just above his fingers. Slowly, agonizingly slowly Harry kissed his way up until he pulled me into a deep passionate kiss. The kiss didn't lasted as long as I wanted but we were both gasping for air within seconds.

When his lips did release me I laid back down again, keeping my eyes firmly closed, not wanting to spoil the moment. I heard Harry taking a deep breath before I felt his lips back on me. They surprised me by being on top of my breast, just above the dress.

"hmm…" Harry breathed. I couldn't stop myself from groaning softly as I felt his tongue reaching out towards my nipple.

"You know, Ginny." Harry said with that rough sexy voice.

"What is it, Harry."

"Your mom won't be able to interfere here."

"I'm sure she'll find a way to do it, even with us being here." I grumbled softly. Suddenly I felt Harry push himself of from me. I opened my eyes to see what he was doing. He just sat up and looked at me.

"Is that hat you want?" he asked softly but with real disappointment in his voice. I couldn't understand his sudden mood swing or disappointment.

"What do you mean?"

Harry looked at me for a long time before he let out a sigh, it almost sounded like he was resigning himself to something.

"Ginny, love, I think we need to talk." He said seriously. I started to panic and opened my mouth to argue but he pressed his fingers on my lips, effectively silencing me.

"Remember after that first night back here in the Burrow?" He asked.

Of course I remembered it so I nodded.

"Remember that I told you the next morning that we had to have _that_ talk at some point?"

I nodded again.

"Ginny, maybe now is the best time to talk, we are alone, we finally have some privacy and I want to know what you want and think before I make a mistake."

I his words surprised me, _mistake?_ Sure as hell what ever Harry and I did wasn't going to be a mistake. I enjoyed every second of us being together, in what ever way. Seeing my confusion Harry lay next to me. Resting on his elbow he looked at me.

"Ginny, please tell me, when we are together, like on that Monday after the Gringotts meeting, what do you think and want?" he sounded so uncomfortable asking me this that it made me want to giggle and tease him but he was serious and I knew he was right, we had to talk about this at some point.

"I'll tell you if you tell me your answer to that same question aftewards."

"Okay." He promised.

"Harry, you have to know that from the moment I saw you I wanted to be with you more than anything. That hasn't changed over the year, it just grew stronger. I want to be close to you, I want to be there for you emotionally when you need it, I want to be there for you when you need a laugh, a shoulder to cry on, or just to talk and to have fun. But since that kiss, that first kiss after you got back in McGonagall's office, it made me want you in so much more ways."

I felt the need to explain that to him first. I wasn't sure if he would even understand what I had felt for him from the moment we met until now. How deeply I wanted him in every way possible.

I took a sip from the juice before I continued.

"It feels like I'm going crazy with my need for you, needs I didn't know I could have and I really honestly don't understand. Needs and feelings that scares the hell out of me. The first week after you got back I decided to ignore those feelings, I'm not even seventeen yet, I'm way to young to have this…lust, this need to be with you physically. At least that's what I told myself. But you are making it impossible to keep ignoring it."

I took a deep breath, confessing this was difficult but also liberating at the same time.

"And honestly, I don't want to ignore it anymore." I finished. My voice soft and my eyes on the ground.

It was silent for a while, I didn't dare to look up to Harry. I wasn't the type of girl that talked about her feelings, it made me feel exposed and terribly venerable. After a few minutes I felt Harry's hand on my waist, softly making soothing circles. I wondered if he knew how I felt after telling him my needs.

"Ginny…" He started in whisper. "I don't know what to say, honestly. You are just so…"

But he didn't continue. I looked up to see what he was struggling with. I was surprised that I saw tears running down his face.

I reached up to brush them away.

"Shhh, it's alright." I whispered, I wondered what had me him so emotional.

"Ginny…" he started again. "I'm so sorry, I should have realized much sooner what an amazing woman you were becoming. We could have had so many happy times before that whole damn war broke out. I must have hurt you so much before it finally sunk in."

I leaned forward to kiss him. Just softly hoping to reassure him that there was nothing to be sorry for.

"Harry, don't be sorry. That's the past, you are here with me now."

He smiled at me before kissing me back softly.

"Yes, and I'm going to stay with you no matter what. Some day, some day soon I am going to make you my wife. I'm going to get us a house, or move us to one of the houses that are already mine, and I'm going to come back home to you every evening after work."

I saw the whole thing as he described it. A beautiful cottage, or a manor house, with nice gardens. Me, cooking in the kitchen, peering out the window to see if Harry was coming home. Heck, I could even imagine red-haired children running around.

"That sounds beautiful, Harry." I whispered.

He pulled me in his arms and kissed the top of my head.

"Harry, will you please tell me what you meant earlier, when you said you were afraid of making a mistake?" I asked,

"oh, yes." He said as he lay me back down so he could look at me. "Well, you heard me talking to Ron, right. So you know that I have been thinking about this as well. Like you, from the moment we shared that kiss in McGonagall's office I felt I needed you. In every way possible. It was like what we felt before as only child's play, this was so different, so much stronger. I think I finally understood what they talk about when they say men can only thing of one thing."

I had to giggle at that, Harry was blushing and making weird faces when he molded over his thoughts.

Silencing me with a quick kiss he continued.

"Every time we touch I feel like I need more. Every time we get intimate it feels like it is never enough. I tried to talk to Ron about it, about how he was dealing with these feeling around Hermione, but you know Ron, he was no help what so ever. I wondered if you felt the same way, after that Gringotts meeting, I think I got a clear answer. I was sure you were struggling with the same feelings but it worried me. A lot."

"What did you worry about?" I asked, I just wondered if he worried about the same things I did.

"About if we really wanted to already explore that part of us. About if we really were ready to have sex. I know I am but I'm a man and I think that means we have some strange flaw in our system that makes me want you more and more every day, sexually I mean. But I didn't know about you, about what you wanted. I am still afraid that when things get to far there will be no going back and that you would…I don't know … I am just worrying about you getting hurt, I think."

"that's what you are worried about?" I asked totally confused.

"Yes."

"You were worried about me not wanting to have sex with you, about me getting hurt by having sex with you, after I literally threw myself on to you that Monday, after all the complaints I made about my mother interrupting us?"

"Yes."

I just shook my head. "you are one silly man, Harry Potter." I chuckled.

"What?" he asked shocked, "Tell me what you are worried about than?"

I looked at him, to see if he wanted a serious answer. Apparently he did. So I took a deep breath and confessed everything I had discussed with Hermione.

"I worry about practical things, Harry. About how to have sex, because I really have no idea. About how to have sex safely, because I don't want to get pregnant, and I worry about Hermione want to ask Fleur for advise on the magical safe sex solution because the muggle version doesn't seem to be user-friendly, really."

Harry just stared at me, it looked like he was completely in shock. It took him a minute or two to get back on earth.

"I haven't even thought about those kind of things. I just assumed…" he breathed.

"Yeah, that's the problem with you men, you guys just assume that the practical problems don't exist. Which make us women have to take matters in our own hands."

I had a fit of laughter when I looked at Harry's face when I said that. It was really funny to see Harry so stunned and lost in thought.

"Does Hermione seriously consider asking Fleur for advise?" he suddenly asked.

"Yes, who else can we ask? We both would die if we had to ask mom, and Hermione says Fleur is practically our sister, so…"

"I sure hope Ron will never find out about that, it would kill him." Harry said as he broke out in laughter. I laughed with him because I could so see my brothers face when he would find out. Red wouldn't even be the right description of the color.

After a minute of care free laughter, which felt really good, Harry calmed down a bit and looked at me seriously.

"I'm really sorry, Ginny, but I haven't really considered any of this."

"It's alright." I shrugged.

"No, it isn't." Harry replied stubbornly. "I really have no excuse this time, I should have thought about these things as well. Seriously, all I thought about was how good you feel when I have you in my arms."

"Harry," I sighed, "it really is okay, you have had so much to think about this past year, these last weeks. Let me take care of this. Hermione and I will figure it out, with or without Fleur's help."

Harry let my words sink in, after a few seconds a mischievous smile started to spread on his face. Suddenly he crawled over me and placed himself on top of me. He placed a few soft kisses on my lips before he softly murmured, "Well, maybe we can find out what else we can do, until you and Hermione figured things out."

I giggled but I knew I had to stop him.

"Harry, you don't have any idea how good that sounds, but…"

"But, what?"

"It's getting late already and I don't want mom to freak out the first time she let us out without throwing a fuss. We will fare better if we show her that she can trust us."

I hated to be the responsible one but I knew I was right. Playing the good girl would show my mom we can be trusted, we would benefit from it later.

Harry groaned, "Yeah, you are right, again."

We got up and packed everything in the basket. Within a few minutes we had everything and took of to make the walk back home.

"Harry?" I said as we walked hand in hand.

"Yes."

"I'm really happy that we can talk and laugh about these things freely between us. I hope that will never change."

"I am too, Ginny. I feel really relieved that we are on the same page with the sex subject."

I quickly kissed him before I had to pay attention to the direction in which we were going. We couldn't really afford to get lost.


	18. Houses

**_New chapter! I hope you all like it, I do..._**

**_Thanks everybody for the reviews...I really love them... keep them coming..._**

* * *

**18. Houses.**

_3th of June, 1998,_

The next morning we both woke up early. Harry was very silent while we dressed, I took it as a sign that he was nervous about the houses. I really didn't know what to expect and I wondered if Harry knew anything about these houses, besides their location, but I didn't ask.

As we sat down to eat some breakfast, Ron and Hermione got downstairs as well.

"Morning." Rom mumbled.

"Good morning." My mom said happily.

Hermione still looked tired but she was smiling and looking out at the window.

"Any plans for today?" she asked us.

"Yeah, I'm taking Ginny to have a look at the houses from my parents will." Harry answered.

"Oh, that's exciting." Hermione smiled.

"What about you two?" I asked Ron and Hermione.

"No plans really." Ron grumbled.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted. "We have plans, Ginny only Ron isn't really excited about it."

"What is it?" I asked curious.

"Well, I had been thinking to visit my parents house and hopefully get a hint of where they are, but Ron wanted to fly his broom all day."

"Ron, if it's important to Hermione that she find her parents you should be supportive." Mom said angrily.

"I am." Ron said, "It's just that I think we should wait to see if Kingsley's men come up with something before we start on a wild goose chase."

"Ron, I don't think Kingsley has too many man free to find Hermione's parents." Harry said softly.

Ron grumbled again. "Ginny what have you done to him? Normally he supports me."

"Hey, I'm innocent." I said raising my hands in the air.

After we had all laughed at Ron's antics Harry and I said goodbye to the family.

"Don't be home late, Bill and Fleur are coming over for dinner tonight." Mom said as she hold the door open for us. I glanced towards Hermione, her face was bright red. I felt Harry rocking with laughter behind me. This day was going to be more than I could handle, of that I was sure.

Harry and I took the short walk until we were outside the safe-zone.

"Which house shall we see first?" Harry asked, his voice was dripping with sarcasm. The idea of multiple houses still wasn't something he was comfortable with and I could guess that it would take a while before Harry would get used to owning something besides a broom.

"What choice do I have?" I asked.

"Well, London or the summer house in the Forest of Dean."

"Lets do London first." I decided, I had the feeling the house in the forest of Dean was going to be impressive, better be impressed last.

Harry nodded and smiled at me, softly grabbing my hand.

"Hold on." He whispered.

I held his hand closely as I prepared for side-along apparition. It was the third time I ever had done it, it was a little uncomfortable but as long as you prepared properly it was the fastest way of traveling.

With in second my feet slammed on a floor, steps to be precise. I slowly looked up to see the building the steps belonged to. It was a two level stone building divided into four houses, we were standing in front of the house most to the right. Five steps led to a small front garden and behind that the road where muggle cars were parked in a row.

The house was build in red brick but it looked old, ivy was climbing the wall next to the front door.

"From what I have been able to find out, my parents bought this house in the year they got me, and lived here until they had to go into hiding. It's just a few blocks away from Grimmauld place."

"Really?"

"Yes, it's strange that my mom and dad choose to live so close to the house Sirius hated so much. I can't even guess why."

"Sirius never lived at Grimmauld place after school, did he live here with your parents?" I asked, wondering if he knew.

"No, he had an apartment somewhere in London but it's destroyed in the first war. The muggles rebuild the place, there is nothing left from the old building. At least that's what Kingsley told me."

"Shall we look inside?" I asked nervously.

Harry nodded nervously as well. He pointed his wand to the door handle and whispered softly. Slowly the door creaked open, I heard al least three locks snapping open. Harry stepped forward to push the door open.

We stood there looking into the hallway. It was colored in a soft white and with wooden panels. There was a stair leading up to the upper levels and three doors at ground level. It wasn't very big but perfect. What was even more surprising was that there wasn't a speck of dust insight. If the house had been vacant for sixteen year, shouldn't it have been very dusty, Grimmauld place was.

Suddenly a door at the end of the hall opened, a big head, pointy ears and big eyes peered around the doorpost. It blinked a few times as it looked at us. Slowly a house-elf dressed in a colorful toga made out of a towel moved towards us.

"Master James?" she squeaked.

We looked at each other in surprise. Clearly Harry didn't knew about a house-elf living in his house but it explained why after all these years the house was still clean and well cared for.

"I'm Harry." Harry said softly.

"Oh, master Harry!" the house-elf squealed happily and came running towards us. "I though I saw a ghost, you look like master James, a lot."

She bowed deeply to Harry and then to me.

"I'm Trinkle, the house-elf that belongs to the Potter family."

"Hello Trinkle." Harry answered. "This is Ginny, she's my girlfriend."

Harry blushed a bit when he introduced me but looked happy.

"Hello Trinkle."

"Hello, miss Ginny. If it's not too bold to say, you have just as beautiful red hair as mistress Lily had."

"Thank you, that's really sweet of you."

Trinkle looked at Harry again, tears were running down her eyes. She blew her noose in a tissue and wiped her eyes.

"I'm so happy somebody is finally home. I finally have someone to care for."

"Oh!" Harry said softly, a frown appeared on his face. "Trinkle, I'm not yet going to stay here. I just found out about this house and I came to have a look at it. And I still have to go to school for one year, maybe after that I'll live here."

"That would make Trinkle, really happy sir." She said with a smile. "Shall I show you around? I kept it clean and tidy for all these years, in the hope someone would return."

"Sure." Harry nodded.

She motioned us to follow and we walked into the house. It felt strange to walk into Harry's parents home, now his home, of course. Like it was something private, something where I should be.

The presence of the house-elf surprised me, some idiotic part of my brain wondered how Hermione would react to fact that Harry now owned two house-elves, it made me wonder and worry about what we would find in the bigger more remote house.

Trinkle opened the first door we came across.

"This is the living room." She squeaked.

We stepped in, it was huge, bigger than I expected. The large window it the front let in a lot of sunlight. Furniture was dotted al over the place and it gave a really good sense of the taste Harry's parents had. The sofa, salon table and chairs close to the window were masculine and wouldn't stand out in a bachelor pad, but the touches of red and the decorations showed a woman's touch.

A few pictures decorated the walls, I recognized most people in them, some I expected to be Harry's grandparents. One picture of Harry's father, with Sirius and Dumbledore stood out. They were waving at us and looking extremely happy. I decided that it must have been when they got their NEWTS.

Harry was looking at the pictures as well, his irregular breathing alerted me to his emotional state. I looked up at him and saw tears running down his face. To support him, I reached for his hand and squeezed it.

"This is brilliant." He breathed. "These pictures I haven't seen before."

"I kept them shiny and clean like mistress Lily asked me." Trinkle whispered.

"You did very well." Harry answered her.

The house-elf smiled at Harry and motioned us to follow her. Back into the hall she showed the cloakroom and lead us towards the kitchen. It looked out over a very overgrown garden and had double doors who would open up the kitchen even more. The kitchen itself looked like my moms, typical wizarding kitchen. Pots everywhere, jars and flasks were covering every surface of the shelves. A large fire place was fitted in the corner, the kettle stood next to it.

"Uhm, I never got any orders about the garden, so I didn't know what to do with it." The elf admitted like it was something shameful.

"It's okay. I'll get that fixed." Harry promised her.

"Harry, this kitchen is perfect." I whispered. I could really see us living here. Living in London would be convenient for when Harry started his work as an auror. My brother would be close, maybe Percy as well, and hopefully Ron and Hermione would come to live in London as well.

"Yes, it is."

Trinkle took us upstairs to show us the bedrooms and bathroom. There were four bedrooms, one large and clearly the master bedroom. A large four poster bed stood against the wall, white blankets and a huge pile of pillows on top of it. The other rooms were a bit smaller but still bigger than mine back home.

The bathroom was really old fashion, but pretty. I concluded that with a bit of magic it would be perfect and up to date.

"The curtains need replacement." I noted as we left the last bedroom. It had been a nursery, I was very sure that baby Harry would have slept there. The nursery was beautiful, the furniture was solid and the decorations were really something. I had the feeling that Sirius and James had something to do with the decorations. It was Quidditch all over the place.

"Hmm." Harry answered a bit lost in thought, which wasn't all surprising after seeing the nursery.

"There's library and study up in the attic, master Harry. Do you want to see that next?" Trinkle asked happily.

"Sure, show the way."

Up the next set of stairs we reached an old oak door, it looked massive.

"I can get in by apparition but I can't take you with me. The door only opens to the true master or mistress of this house." The house-elf explained.

Harry nodded and reached for the doorknob. Nothing happened when he touched it, so he turned the handle. The old door creaked even more than the front door but opened.

Behind it was a wonderful room.

Every wall contained thick wooden shelves, on it where books, a lot of books, pictures, small chests and Trophies. The Gryffindor banner hang from the top shelf of the back wall. The wall where the door was, held besides shelves, paintings, portraits of family members and important wizards. They all squealed in happiness and applauded to Harry. Apparently word travels fast through the paintings.

In the middle of the room stood a massive oak desk with matching chair. There were papers spread out over the table, a small picture frame stood on the left side. The pen that Harry's parents had used still lay on top of the papers.

"It looks like they left everything behind in a hurry." I whispered.

"Yes, I think they did." Harry breathed.

"They did." Trinkle whispered sadly. We both looked at her, shock and surprise covering our faces. She understood immediately.

"Shall I make tea? I'll tell you what happened. Master James told me to tell you everything were you to return with out them."

"Okay." Harry whispered in shock.

We followed the elf to the kitchen where she told us to sit while she made tea. It took a few minutes but quickly we had a cup of steaming tea in front of us and Harry told Trinkle to sit with us while she told her story.

"Master James, told me, _'we are going to leave this place for a while, but I expect to come back as soon as possible. If we do not return please tell Harry what happened today. I'm sure he will visit this place someday'._ The day master James and mistress Lily left there had been a lot of panic and mistress Lily had been in tears. The professor came for a visit. I was there when he told them he-who-must-not-be-named was looking for them, for you master Harry. They talked about a plan to go into hiding, mister Black came to visit us. As soon as he arrived they grabbed everything they needed and left. Mistress Lily said, '_we will be back soon, take care of the house_'. When master James went to lock up the door he told me, only a true Potter was able to set foot in this house. The last thing they asked me was, '_Tell Harry we love him, if he ever comes back alone'_."

Harry shuddered a bit but looking at the elf we could only feel sorry for her, al these years she had been here alone.

"The professor came back one day." Trinkle whispered. "he told me master James and mistress Lily wouldn't return, he told me that you might one day. I promised him to make sure you would come back to a clean home."

We sat in silence for a while, Harry and I were completely lost in our thoughts. I could imagine how scary it had been for the house-elf to be left alone so suddenly. I wondered if the Potters left the house with any real hope that they would come back. We know they went to Godric's Hollow. I always had thought that, that was their home, I wondered why they would have a house in London if they could have lived happily between wizards in Godric's Hollow.

"Trinkle? Why did James and Lily live here, I thought the house in Godric's Hollow was their home?"

"Oh no, that was the family home. They stayed there a lot but this is the work home. When the war started master James needed to be in London a lot, mistress Lily didn't want to be away from him when she was pregnant so they bought this house. I use to serve in the vacation home by the forest, master James took me to this house."

"That explains a lot." Harry whispered.

Harry and I finished our tea and decided to have a look at the other house. Slightly more nervous than before I agreed, I was a bit terrified of what we would find there.

"Oh, you are going to the forest house?" Trinkle said.

"Yes."

"Please say hello to Drooble for me, I haven't seen him in a long time."

"Who?" I asked shocked.

"Drooble is the house-elf there, he serves in the forest house."

"We will." I promised, internally cringing at the idea of another house-elf.

"Master Harry, when will you be back?" Trinkle asked carefully.

"Oh, I'm not sure. I go on holiday in a few days time, I think after that." Harry answered thoughtfully. I looked at him wondering what was on his mind but I decided to wait with asking. I was sure Harry would need some time to maul things over.

The house-elf let us out, waving happily at us. I turned back to look at the house, from the outside it didn't look like anything special but it was, it was the first house Harry ever lived in.

Harry took my hand and squeezed it softly.

"This house is lovely, Harry." I whispered.

"Yeah, it is." He agreed. "Shall we go on?"

I nodded took stepped closer to him, taking firm hold of his arm. As if the air was smashed out of me Harry took me with him to the forest house.

I had been to the forest of Dean once, my mom and dad had taken me on a picnic the day after Ron started school. Too get my mind of things, I guessed later. It had worked for a few hours. The forest of Dean was beautiful, specially in the late summer.

When my feet hit the floor I realized that the beauty of late summer was nothing compared to late spring. Everything was blossoming, wild flowers, fruit trees, and young green leaves.

We had landed on a small country road, with in front of us a huge hedge with a small white gate. Harry opened it for me and we walked up the path. It lead through an orchard with different kind of fruit trees, it was bigger as the one at the Burrow. Ahead we could see the shape of a Victorian manor. The exposed timber was painted white, as were the window frames and like the London house the stone was a soft creamy color. It was big!

"Wow!" I breathed as I looked around. The house was secluded by trees, by the forest actually.

"This was just a vacation house?" Harry asked, his voice thick with sarcasm.

We slowly moved towards the house, I worried for a second that Harry got the wrong house, but all worries were stamped out as a house-elf raced towards us. Drooble, I expected, was a male house-elf with a round snout and round big ears, to say it clearly everything about Drooble was round. It looked like he kept himself well fed over the years.

"Master James! Master James! You have finally returned!" the house-elf shouted as he ran into Harry's legs and threw his arms around him.

"Drooble?" Harry spoke carefully. The house-elf stepped back and looked up. Shock ran over his face.

"Oh, me is sorry, sir, I though you were master James. You sure do look like him." The elf muttered.

"I'm Harry."

"Oh!" the house-elf breathed. He looked at Harry again and smiled happily.

"This is Ginny." Harry introduced me.

"Hello miss." Drooble smiled. I nod at him and smiled back. Both elves we met today looked really friendly and I wondered how they were treated by Harry's parents, probably very well.

"You come to stay here?" the elf asked Harry.

"No, not yet, I came to have a look at the house. I just found out about its existence."

"I'll show you around." The elf said happily and started to walk up the path.

We followed him, taking in the sight around us. The gardens were beautiful kept and flowers were blossoming colorful. It was really peaceful.

"Did you kept the garden, Drooble?" I asked

"Yes." He said proudly. "Master James knows I love the garden, he told me I could go ahead and make the garden beautiful. I'm happy to do it."

"Well, it sure looks beautiful." I agreed.

"Thank you, miss."

The house was grand, what else would you expect from a Victorian manor, it was clear that the magic used on it made it look even more over the top. Drooble had kept the house in perfect order, there wasn't a speck of dust to be found.

This house had also a nursery but Drooble told us that Lily and James only had prepared it but never stayed here after Harry was born.

At some point during the tour Drooble asked for James again, Harry sat the elf down and told him very gently what had happened to his parents. The house-elf looked really sad and cried a few tears before whipping them away and raised himself. I was surprised he didn't know, had there never been anyone here after Lily and James went into hiding?

"I'm very sorry, master Harry. Master James and mistress Lily were very good to me. I now hope to serve you well." Drooble said.

"I'm sure you will." Harry nodded and motioned Drooble to continue the tour.

This house, of course, held a library twice the size of the one in London but it was less personal. The books on the shelf were all easy to read books and novels, only a few books could be considered serious reading material. Also the paintings and pictures were different. Lighter and the subjects were more happy, they looked like holiday pictures.

Like in the London house the furniture was in perfect state and matched beautiful, some things were a bit old-fashioned for my taste but over all it was perfect.

"Your parents sure had good taste." I said as we walked around the living room.

Harry nodded while he looked around, he paid attention to every picture and portrait that hang on the walls, soaking up as much of his family that he could.

A large ceiling to floor window at the back of the room caught my attention, it looked out over a large green lawn until it reached a low hedge, behind that hedge the forest was thick and held old trees. I wondered what lay beyond the dark thick forest.

Drooble insisted on making tea and lunch for us and made the garden table ready for us to sit on. While we waited for Drooble to prepare lunch Harry and I explored the gardens. The grounds around the house were huge.

"It's so quiet here." I whispered softly, I was almost scared to interrupt the steady song of the birds. They were the only living creatures that made a sound.

"Yes, it's really beautiful here, I can see why my parents came here for their holiday. It's so far away from the loud city that London is, or the constant attention they would have gotten from other wizarding families in Godric's Hollow."

"Hmm-mm, I wonder how your parents felt about moving to London. They had two places they clearly loved."

"Maybe, my mom was afraid to be alone. She was pregnant and the war was raging. I can see why she left Godric's Hollow. And from what I have been able to find out from Kingsley's papers, it was a good thing they left, by the time Voldemort started to notice them not many people did know about the house, maybe because they had been living in London for a while already. Only close friends and people in the village knew, it was a easy place to go into hiding."

I nodded, "Did you get all this information from the pile of papers on your desk?"

"Yes, and no. I found clues in them, they are reports and letters about that period. Only because of the people and elves around me telling me about it can I make the connections."

"How did you come by those papers?" I asked

"I asked Kingsley for them." Harry shrugged.

"But why?"

Harry looked at me for a second, it looked like he was debating with himself. He raised his hand and softly brushed my face, like he was reminding himself that I was there. He grabbed my hand and pulled softly.

"Come." He whispered as he lead me to a secluded part of the garden where Drooble was serving our lunch. Harry made the gesture for me to sit, as I sat down Harry grabbed a chair and pulled it close to me. He took my hand and kissed it softly.

He took a deep breath before he explained.

"I don't know if you ever knew, but when the dementors come near me I relive my worst memory. You saw me crash that first time in the train. When Hermione and I tried to save Sirius, they got every close for a long time, I heard everything that had happened to my parent the night that they were murdered before I passed out."

I squeezed his hand softly, his sad eyes told me it was hard for him to talk about this.

"So, ever since I was thirteen I had a pretty good idea what happened that night, the betrayal, Voldemort arriving at the house, my mother trying to protect me, everything really."

Harry took an other deep breath to steady himself. He looked up at me and smiled softly.

"You know about the connection I had with Riddle, so you also know I got occasionally flashes of what he was thinking or doing. During the year building up to the battle the connection opened up stronger. That was why I have been able to stay ahead of him, most of the time. On Christmas eve Hermione and I went to Godric's Hollow…"

I quivered a bit as I felt the story turning horrible.

"We were trapped, and Riddle was coming for us. I don't really know how Hermione did it but she got us out in time. I blacked out. During that black out I lived in Riddles mind, he was reliving the night that he killed my parents, his memory was clear and I could see everything."

A tear rolled down Harry's face, I took my sleeve and wiped it away.

"After the fight, I think the first night at the burrow I realized that all I knew about that period in my parents life was how they got murdered. It should have been the most happiest time of their life, they got married, they had a son and they had good friends. I realized that they had everything to be happy and I wondered if they really had a chance to be happy."

Harry let out a long sigh. I remained silent, letting him organize his thoughts.

"You see, if I know that they have been happy, even though there was a war going on and people lived in constant fear, if they have been happy, and if they died during the most happy period of their lives, than maybe I'll be able to have a little peace with their death."

"Did you find your answers?" I whispered.

"Not all of them, yet, but I think today made a lot of things clear." He smiled happily.

I kissed him quickly, I loved it when he looked so happy.

Drooble finish up serving lunch for us as he places freshly baked slices of bread on the table.

"Is there anything else?" the elf asked.

"No, this looks perfect." Harry said, smiling at the elf.

Lunch indeed tasted great, sure the elf did know how to make food.

"You know, I could get used to this." Harry said.

"To what?" I asked surprised.

"Well, to sitting in this peaceful garden, eating lunch, with you."

"Oh." I said surprised. "I think I can to." I admitted.

"Good. Than we are keeping this house." He said with a smile.

"Keeping this house? Harry, what do you mean?" I asked a bit breathless.

He looked up and smiled at me.

"I was planning on telling you this sooner but with the trails it got a bit stuck. Seriously Ginny, we don't need three houses."

I held up my hand to stop him.

"_We_ don't need three houses? What do you mean _we_?"

"I thought you would want to live with me after we finish school?" Harry muttered, his head hanging down. "I should have asked you first."

I looked at him for a second, my brain needed time to organize my thoughts.

"You…you mean…you mean like living together? Immediately after school?" I stuttered.

Harry nodded not meeting my eye. "If you want to." He murmured.

"Of course I want to!"

"Really?" Harry asked finally looking at me.

"Yes, I have been thinking about you taking me away from my mom to Grimmauld place very obsessively the last few weeks. There is no place I rather be than living with you."

Harry smiled and pulled me into a kiss, a deep kiss, the ones that made my head spin and my body aching for more.

"Was your mom that bad?" He asked as he pulled away.

"Yeah, but please tell me what you meant with the houses." I urged him on.

"Okay, I have been thinking about these houses. It seems ridiculous to me, to have three while some people can't even afford one. Before I knew about my parents will, I thought about Hermione and about how she has no place to go home to. I had been thinking about offering her to stay at Grimmauld place, to have Grimmauld place. I don't want to live there, I think, too many bad memories and Hermione would be able to make something beautiful out of it with her magic skills. Once I found out about my parents will and about these two houses I decided to wait with any decision before I saw the houses myself."

Harry kissed me softly before smiling big at me.

"I realized that I also have to discus this with you. Your opinion on where you want to live is very important to me."

I listen to Harry, trying to keep up with his story.

"You are considering giving Hermione a house?" I asked after a minute or two, wondering if I lost my mind.

"No, I want to give her a place she can go home to. Her and Ron, I don't think they will want to stay long in the burrow when we finish school either."

I just gaped at him, completely lost for words. While I pondered this over, Harry handed me a sandwich and poured a cup of tea for me. We ate in silence for a while, Harry let me alone to my thoughts, and I needed it. Between seeing two beautiful houses and having to hear about Harry's parents and now on top of that encountering the most selfless Harry I had yet to see, was too much. I couldn't put it into any kind of mind frame.

When Drooble started to clear the table I looked at Harry. His bright green eyes were intensely focus on me.

"What is your plan?" I asked, maybe if he started than I might be able to sort something out.

"To be honest, I want to live in Godric's Hollow."

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Yes, for me that is really home. Maybe rebuilding the old house or buying something new, I don't know yet. And I really like this house."

"Me too." I nodded. "What about the other two houses?"

"Maybe we should have Hermione choose the one she want to live in." Harry said.

"I don't think that will take her long, I honestly don't think she will want to live at Grimmauld place."

"I don't think so either…" Harry trailed off. Suddenly a grin appeared on his face. "You know, Ginny, we could give the London house to Hermione with Christmas."

I laughed at that, "That's a brilliant idea. I think that will be the best gift ever. What about Grimmauld place?"

Harry shrugged, "I don't know yet, I don't really want it. Kreacher can come with us when we get a house in Godric's Hollow. I'll figure it out."

We finished our tea and Harry got up. He held out his hand to help me up like the perfect gentlemen.

Drooble came hurrying towards us.

"Anything you want, master?" he asked.

"No, Drooble. Lunch was perfect, but we better go back to the Burrow. Bill and Fleur will be there soon." Harry said.

"When will master be back?" Drooble asked.

"Don't know yet, but make sure the bedrooms are clean, next time I come here there will be guests."

"Are we going to stay here?" I asked surprised.

"I think your mom would benefit from getting used to being alone in the house again. The four of us can spend some days here, in _our_ summer house." Harry said with a smile.

"I like that idea." I whispered.

"Okay, master, I will get everything ready for your return." Drooble said with a bow.

"Perfect. Goodbye Drooble." Harry said as he turned to walk back towards the path.

"Bye Drooble."

"Goodbye, master, miss." Drooble said with a bow.

We walked back to the gate and with a last look at the beautiful house Harry took me home.

Home was busy, dad and Percy were home early. Bill and Fleur were already there, together with Ron and Hermione they all sat at the garden table. They were talking and laughing loudly. It made me smile to see my family happy and worry free. There was an other girl at the table, I didn't know her. From her body language I made out that she wasn't really comfortable and clinging to Percy.

I looked at Harry and raised my eyebrow. He just shrugged and kissed me quickly before pulling me along with him towards my family.

Ron noticed us first and waved, soon the whole family smiled at us as we neared the table.

"Hey, Harry. Good to see you again." Bill said happily as he shook Harry's hand.

"How were the houses?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Good, we will show you after the holiday." Harry promised before turning towards Fleur to give her a hug. Last year I would have been unbelievably jealous but now I knew Harry saw her very differently from me. Fleur was a friend, a sister. When Harry let Fleur go she turned to me and pulled me in a hug. I was a bit surprised by that, we hadn't been very friendly before, but I returned her hug with a smile. Fleur was my sister now, I'd better start behaving like one.

"It's good to see you again, Ginny." She said.

"It's good to see you as well. You look a lot better than last time I saw you."

Which was true, she had looked really tired after the fight, even sick.

"Nothing that a lot of sleep couldn't cure. I had been worrying a lot." Fleur said with a smile and sat down next to Bill.

Percy cleared his throat and we turned to him.

"Harry, Ginny, I would like to introduce you to Audrey. Audrey works with me at the ministry...last year…I didn't get the chance to introduce you to her."

Audrey shook both our hands as we introduced ourselves, she smile timidly. She was a shy girl, but pretty. Not like Fleur but still a beautiful girl. She had chocolate brown hair, which had curls at the end. Her dark blue eyes were captivating. I had to admit my brothers had good taste in girls.

Quickly conversation started and the table was a happy bubble of laughter. I asked Hermione about her day, and how her visit to her parents house was but she told me we would talk about it later. She didn't look very happy, though.

When the conversation was about Teddy, I explained to Audrey that Teddy was Harry's god-son.

"Are you going to raise him, after you finish school?" Audrey asked.

"No, Andromeda will take care of him. Harry will be like a uncle for him. Harry will support him in everything they need."

"But what about you? Will you be involved in his life?"

"I think so… I haven't really thought about that. I think I'm going to finish school first before trying my mothering skills." I laughed. Audrey laughed with me, after only fifteen minutes since our meeting I had established that Audrey was a fun person to talk to.

"I want to have children as soon as possible though. I'm just waiting for Percy to pop the question." Audrey said wishful.

"I'm only sixteen, I think I'll wait a few years before thinking about children."

"Yeah, that's probably the best, but you've grown up in this family, I'm sure that already qualifies you as a good mom, with all those boys around."

"I'm not even sure if I can have children." Hermione said, joining the conversation.

"What? Why not?" Audrey asked surprised.

"I don't know how it is in the wizarding world, but for muggle women it isn't always easy to get pregnant. Some of them never will be able to. Maybe that will be for me as well, my mom had trouble getting pregnant as well."

"Nah, magic can solve almost anything, I haven't heard of a witch that can't get pregnant." Audrey said.

Suddenly Fleur stood up and hurried toward the kitchen. I thought I heard a sob before the door slammed. Bill looked at the door, sadness covered his face. Suddenly it clicked and I got up.

"You don't have to go, Ginny." Bill whispered as he got up.

"I know, but I will." I said. Quickly I walked towards the kitchen. Soundlessly I opened the door and looked around.

"Fleur?" I called but there was no answer. I walked to the living room when I heard sobs coming from the stair. I turned to see Fleur sitting on the first step, her hands covering her face. She was trembling all over.

"Fleur?" I tried again as I slowly approached her. I sat down next to her and pulled her to me. No matter how much I had been jealous, no matter how beautiful and poised she was, now she looked like a small bundle of sadness and it tucked at my heart. In my arms Fleur broke down completely, she wailed and cried against my shoulder. Her body buckling under each sob. I stroke her hair, trying to been a comfort for her.

"I don't know…I don't know what to do, Ginny." She whispered through her sobs. "I tried everything I know. I even asked my mom."

"shhh, calm down Fleur. Tell me, you'll feel better if you talk." I said as I rubbed her shoulder. Somehow I felt kinship towards her, suddenly she felt like she was my sister. Her sadness and pain erased everything I hated about her.

"Bill…" She took a deep breath. "Bill and I have been trying ever since we got married. Even when times were hard, we always wished for a child. I stopped using the spell the day we got married, but still nothing."

"It's has been more than a year. Even my mom doesn't know what to do, she is saying I should go to the healers." She wailed again. "I'm a complete failure."

"Fleur! Of course not." I said shocked.

"Ginny, look at me, I can't keep myself together, I can't give my husband a child. I can't even live up to the expectations of my family and mother-in-law. I'm a complete failure as a woman." Fleur cried.

"No, Fleur. You're not." I got up and lowered myself in front of her, placing my hands on her knees.

"Fleur, look at me." She opened her eyes and wiped her tears away. "Fleur, you are not a failure. You are a beautiful woman, Bill is still as in love with you as he was the day you two got married. Last year wasn't exactly the best time to get pregnant, we all had a lot of stress. We all lived in constant fear, I honestly don't think being that stressed out helped with you trying to get pregnant. Give it some time, try to relax, the war is over and there is no one putting pressure on you."

"My mom and your mom are asking all the time about it." She whispered.

"Since when do you listen to my mom."

Finally she chuckled a bit.

"My mom is being obnoxious, she pushes every wrong button she can. You are lucky you don't live here. So please don't listen to her."

Fleur nodded, "Bill told me the same thing."

"Fleur, I really think the pressure you put on yourself and the stress of the war make getting pregnant impossible. Maybe you shouldn't try so hard, you always try to do everything to perfection. Not everything can be perfect."

"Yes, maybe you're right." She nodded.

"Even then, if that doesn't help, maybe Hermione knows something the muggles do to help women getting pregnant, maybe she can help you. But I honestly think you should try to relax."

Suddenly Fleur pulled me in a hug.

"Thank you, Ginny." She breathed.

When she let me go I sat down next to her again.

"Fleur, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"What did you mean with, 'I stopped using the spell'?" I asked playing completely clueless.

She looked at me, her face showed nothing but surprised.

"You don't know about the spell? I though…" she trailed off. "Ginny, I thought you and Harry…and your mom, why hasn't she told you…"

"Fleur, you aren't making any sense."

"The spell I meant is the spell that prevents women from getting pregnant. It works perfectly and it's easy to do. I just don't understand why you don't know about it. My mom told me about it when I was fourteen."

"You know my mom, anything to do with sex or making children is a taboo. She only wants to know about grandchildren being born."

"Yeah, you're probably right. But you and Harry…"

"Haven't reached that base yet."

"Oh…, oh, sorry Ginny, I didn't mean to pry."

"It's okay, this sounds like something I should know about."

"Hmm-mm, if you and Harry don't want children, yet, than you better know how to protect yourself. I know the spell by heart but I have a card in my bag with the instructions on it. I'll get it, it's in the living room."

Fleur quickly got up and hurried toward the living room. It only took her a few seconds before returning, I was happy to see that she was laughing again.

"Here," she said as she handed me a card. "These are the instruction, just follow it and it can't go wrong. There isn't any difficult wand movement or words involved, every witch can do this."

I looked at the card and was happy to see it was the same spell as in Hermione's book.

"Thank you, Fleur." I said with a smile. I got up and straightened my clothes. "Ready to go back out?"

"Yes, Bill must be worrying about me."

We walked back, happily chatting about how nice Audrey is. Fleur didn't blame her at all for her words that upset Fleur so much.

When we reached the table, Bill got up quickly and pulled Fleur into his arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, Ginny has been a real help."

"Good, I'm happy to see you smile again." Bill said to her.

As we said down at the table I slipped Hermione the card Fleur had given me. She looked at it for a second before handing it back to me.

"Perfect." She mouthed.

"Fleur, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Audrey said.

"It's okay, you didn't know, maybe I should have talked about it with someone sooner. Ginny helped me see what might be the problem." Fleur said with a warm smile.

Harry grabbed my hand and squeezed it. The kiss he place on my neck showed his awe and love for me.

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_**Next chapter will be the start of a warm and steamy holiday!**_


	19. Amazing

_**Wow, thanx for the Review! I love them...**_

_**Okay, a WARNING! before you start to read the next chapter...if you like your image of a innocent and cute Harry and Ginnym I suggest you stop reading and accept that Harry and Ginny will happily grow old together...this Chapter contains LEMONS...**_

**_The holiday has finally started!_**

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**_19. Amazing_**

_6__th__ of June, 1998_

If I thought the first day of September was chaotic, scrambling to get everything packed, it was nothing compared to today. Today we were to leave for Lanzarote and mom was having a nervous breakdown.

Percy and Audrey had promised to watch the house while we were gone but somehow mom was still running around making sure Percy and Audrey had nothing to do. It got to the point where the rest of the family fled outside. Even my dad gave up and joined us in the orchard.

"You guys have everything packed and ready?" he asked as he sat down next to George.

George had stayed overnight to make sure he wasn't going to oversleep and miss the portkey.

"Yes." We said as one.

"Good, Molly will calm down in an hour or so." He said with a sigh.

It was ten in the morning and the package with the portkey and hotel vouchers had just arrived. The portkey would take us to the hotel at eleven, so we still had a hour to come up with thing we had forgotten to pack. So we relaxed and waited for the house to be safe again.

Hermione was laying with her head on Ron's legs reading that famous small book of hers. She had found a lot of useful and simple spells in it. After she had learned to perform them herself, she would teach me. So far we had a spell that would select the perfect matching outfit, you only had to select one thing and the spell came up with the rest. It was so handy. There was a spell that did literally magic for your hair, you had to imagine the style you wanted, curls, straight, flowing, or weave like and say the words. I hadn't tried extreme things but it worked really well, specially for Hermione, who had been able to get her bushy hair under control without using any form of products.

Seriously that book was Hermione's best buy ever. Every day she was reading a few pages and spend the rest of her Ron-free time trying to get the spell working for her.

When it was fifteen minutes before eleven we all got up and went to get our luggage. Mom was indeed calming down a bit as she looked around her house for things she might forget. I was sure she couldn't find any.

"You know, when muggles go on a holiday, they go by airplane. They have to be at the airport two hours before the plane leaves, they travel the whole day." Hermione said as we walked towards the portkey. Harry had placed the small statue on the kitchen table. There we had place enough to hold on to our luggage and the portkey at the same time.

"Everybody get ready." My dad said as he checked his watch.

I quickly checked my pocket for my wand and took hold of the top of the portkey.

"3…2…1…" my father counted down. By one I felt the familiar tuck and we were all pulled toward our destination, Lanzarote.

As soon as our feet hit the floor we were overwhelmed by the warm breeze. The sun was burning down on our shoulders.

"This sure is a lot better than traveling like muggles." George laughed as he stretched himself.

"Much quicker." Hermione agreed.

A tall man in a light grey suit walked up towards us.

"Welcome to the Magical resort in playa Blanca, mister Potter." The man said as he shook Harry's hand. "It's a honor to have you and the Weasley family here. I'm Mark Calleigh, and I'm the owner of this resort."

Harry introduced us all and soon we were walking toward the lobby of the hotel. When we reached the desk a beautiful woman welcomed us.

"This is Ellen, my wife, she will take care of the paperwork. In the meanwhile I suggest that you enjoy a drink down at the café. After that I'll take you to your rooms."

"Okay." Harry nodded.

"What about our luggage?" mom asked.

"Oh, the elves will take care of it." As soon as he said it four elves appeared out of thin air. I quickly glanced toward Hermione. She was looking at the elves, she didn't look very happy about the appearance of the elves. When she saw that they looked well cared for she turned to follow us down the grand stairs.

Grand, was a bit of an understatement. The lobby was made out of white marble, the stairs in the middle of the lobby lead down to the café and the swimming pool. Halfway the staircase a path broke of to the left, a sign attached to the railing told us it was leading to the dining hall.

The lobby and café were light and open, large open windows let in the warm breeze. The windows framed the swimming pool area and the gardens.

We settled down in some really comfy chairs. The owner ordered drinks for us and walked back upstairs. We were served a fruit juice cocktail with ice. It was really good, it tasted like a combination of strawberries and bananas. Very fresh.

While we drank and chatted I got to get a good look around. The bar area was spread out over the whole floor, lounge chairs were dotted all over the place. Next to the exit by the swimming pool hang a notice board, it was flashing in bright colors showing the hotels entertainment program.

After fifteen minutes the hotel owner came back down to show us our room. I had expected us to go upstairs, that the rooms were above the lobby but he took us out towards the swimming pool.

"This path leads to the luxurious part of the hotel, you all have one of our Grand Suites, which are located over there." The owner informed us as he pointed towards a building to the left.

"Guests who are using our all inclusive luxurious package, will have to show their cards when they order food or drinks. Everything is included, any special wishes you can direct to me." He continued as he handed out purple room cards.

As we walked towards the building we passed the swimming pool and some cabana bars. I was surprised to see that the bars outside were manned by wizards and not by elves. Elves were everywhere though, serving food, drinks and carrying towels for the guests.

When we reached the entrance I immediately understood what made this even more exclusive as the lobby part of the hotel. The amount of gold and green marble used in this building was obscure, candles were floating around making it feel like you walked into an completely different world. It was cooler but more warm at the same time.

When we reached the first landing the owner turned right towards the only door at that part of the landing.

"This room is for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Just hold your card against the door and it will open. Your luggage have already been unpacked and hanged. I made sure there are brochures of the different activities and places to see on the desk, the dining hall is always open, as is the bar and swimming pool." He told my parents. Mom and dad nodded and went to open the door.

"When everybody is ready, shall we meet by the pool?" mom asked.

We all agreed to see each other there.

"Next room is for Mr. George Weasley." The owner said as he walked towards the other end of the landing. Per landing there were only five rooms, judging by the size of the building the rooms were huge.

After George, the owner took us up an other flight of stairs, Ron and Hermione's room was right ahead and the room for Harry and me was at the far end of the building.

"This room has the highest security, Mr. Potter. It also ensures the most privacy as it is at the end of our resort. Nobody overlooks this room."

"Thank you." Harry said with a nod.

"If you need anything let me know, same goes for you Miss Weasley." The owner said with a smile before leaving us.

Harry placed his card against the door, without any sounds it swung open. Harry took my hand as he lead us in. It was over the top romantic. Everything reminded me of roses, of fairytales and of what lay ahead. The hall itself was simple, dark wood paneled half the wall and the top half was painted in a soft terra cotta color, this color scheme was used through out the suite. The floor was marble and held designs of roses.

As we walked into the main room we were welcomed by a large four-poster bed, like the Hogwarts beds but bigger. White thin curtains surrounded it. Talk about romantic.

A large glass wall with sliding doors framed the ocean and cliffs beautifully, the balcony wasn't too big but perfect for this room.

"Are all the rooms like this?" I breathed, completely overwhelmed.

"Only those of your parents is different, it's even more over the top than this." Harry whispered, equally awe-struck.

It took us a few minutes to get our brain working again, we just looked at each other and slowly started to smile. Finally free. Harry pulled me to him and kissed me senseless. Within seconds I was shivering from the sexual tension and gasping for breath, my heart was pounding like crazy.

We just held each other for a few minutes, placing soft kisses and enjoying the feeling of finally being together alone.

"Do you want to go swimming?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, we better behave and meet the family at the pool."

Harry smiled at me, suddenly his eyes turned to mischief, his hands moved from my back to my stomach. Slowly he brushed his thumbs along the side of my breasts, I closed my eyes and moaned softly. A shiver of pleasure ran through me. As soon as my moan escaped my lips Harry released me, as my eyes flew open he turned towards the closet.

"Evil." I muttered but he just chuckled.

I was going to get back at him for that.

I turned toward the closet with my name on it to look for my bikini and sunscreen. I was thinking about putting on the scanty bikini but I remember myself that mom and dad would be there as well so I decided to use the more decent one.

I walked in the bathroom, which was all marble and absolutely stunning, to change. As much as I wanted to get Harry back for his little stunt I wasn't comfortable enough to change in front of him. I threw on one of my long summer dresses to cover up myself a bit for the walk to the swimming pool.

When I returned to the bedroom I stopped short, Harry stood there waiting next to the door, only wearing his swim short and flip-flops. It was a sight to behold.

"How am I going to keep the women off." I said desperately.

Harry smiled and walked towards me. Gently kissing me, he pulled me in his arms.

"You don't have to worry, there is only one woman I want." He whispered softly.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked after a few more kisses.

"In second, I have to pack my sunscreen and wand."

I grabbed everything I needed and threw them in a small bag, I also grabbed the brochures that lay on the desk so that I could read about all the activities that were possible on this island.

We found George already lazing by the pool, he also had brought the brochures with him.

"Harry, seriously, you are crazy, this is so awesome." George said with a huge grin on his face.

"I take it you like the room." Harry said.

"Like, is a huge understatement, it's brilliant."

A house-elf handed us large towels to use and conjured up two beds for us to use. I got out of my dress and lay down to enjoy the sun, when I peeked over at Harry I saw that he was watching me.

"You like?"

"Very much." He breathed.

"This is the more conservative of my selections."

"Do I want to imagine how the other one looks on you?"

"You can, but I intent on wearing them, once mom gets used to this one." I smiled slyly.

"Yes, that might be better."

George was shaking with laughter.

"Ginny, you might not want to push Harry, the poor guy doesn't know what will hit him."

"Anything good in those brochures?" Harry quickly changed the subject.

George and I both laughed, but George held up one of the brochures, taking Harry's question seriously.

"This is about sea-fishing, it's something muggles like to do, I've been reading it and I thought it would be something we could do with the guys."

Harry took the paper from George to read it. While the guys discussed the brochure I took my time to apply a decent amount of sunscreen, I wasn't prepared to walk around with my skin as red as my hair.

After a few minutes Ron and Hermione joined us, Hermione looked great in her bikini, Ron couldn't keep his eyes of her. Even George ogled at her for a second.

"Wow, Hermione. That is a nice selection." I said.

"Thank you, Ron thought so as well." She said with a sly smile as Ron's ears turned red. Quickly a house-elf brought towels and beds for Ron and Hermione so they could sit with us. An other elf brought us menu cards and lists with all sorts of drinks we could select.

"Just tap the number of the thing you want to order with your wand and I'll bring it to you." Were his instructions.

"Hermione, you aren't really bothered by the fact that most servants here are elves, are you?" Harry asked.

"I was, but they really look happy and healthy. That's all I want for them." She said thoughtfully.

"Hermione still thinks that they should be treated equal to wizards but at least this is better than how most of them have be treated in the past." Ron told us. Clearly they had been talking about is.

Harry nodded. He hadn't told Hermione about the two elves we met earlier that week. Harry and I had discussed it but we weren't sure what to tell exactly. I even suggested to wait until Christmas when he would give them one of the two houses, but Harry still wasn't sure what to do. All we knew was that Hermione's parents house had been sold and that she now had no place to call home, besides the Burrow.

"What were you talking about before we showed up?" Ron asked.

That was enough to get George and Harry going again on the whole sea fishing thing. I just shook my head and closed my eyes, it must be a men thing to like fishing, or muggle men thing, Harry had to explain a lot about fishing. It didn't sound very fascinating to me.

The sun was nice and warm on my skin, it made it able to relax completely and soon I found myself day dreaming about the upcoming evening. Sure we would all eat together but after that Harry and I had a whole suite for ourselves and mom wasn't able the prowl the hallways, or walk in on us.

I shivered at the thought of what might be happening tonight, the shivers came mostly from the pleasure the image brought with it but a small voice in the back of my mind wondered if I was ready. Strangely, that voice started to become smaller and smaller. I was sure that at one point it would disappear completely.

"Ginny, can I borrow the sunscreen?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, sure. If you are done with it, can you please put some on my back and the back of my legs." I said as I turned around and lay down on my stomach.

"Yes, sure."

I waited for Harry to start, my skin already tingling with the anticipation of his touch. And when it came it was heavenly. Harry's strong hands started at my shoulders, softly rubbing to sunscreen in, down my spine, under the fabric of my bikini and down to the sides. His fingers brushed the side of my breast again and my breath hitched. I got even more breathless when Harry reached my lower back as his fingers slipped under my bikini bottoms.

Suddenly his hands were off me. I peeked over my shoulder to see Harry getting more sunscreen, quickly I closed my eyes again. Beginning at my calves Harry slowly made his way up until his hands were only an inch away from my private place. I couldn't help but moan at the sensation, luckily it was soft and the others were to loud into a discussion to hear it, but Harry did.

"Too bad that we still aren't alone." He whispered in my ear.

"Harry, stop it." I hissed. He was driving me crazy.

I swear I heard him chuckle and I promised myself I would find something really good to get back at him.

Any immediate plans were squashed by my parents. They had finally come to join us, both wearing a strange grin on their face.

"I so don't want to know about that." I heard George mutter and I agreed. Mom and dad looked like they had tried out their bed. Urgh, I was in such a need of a bit of memory erasing.

After a while the boys decided it was time to get into the water. Harry had brought a ball with him so they could play and my dad was excited to be asked to join them. They all had fun, laughing freely and playing around. After a while Hermione and I joined them in the water but the game quickly got too rough for us and we went back to enjoying the sun.

"I'm hungry." Was the next thing I heard someone say. Quickly I realized I had fallen asleep, the sun had been so nice that it just had been too hard to fight it.

"Yeah, me too." I heard my dad say.

I sat up to see my family all laying on their beds, mom and Hermione were reading, Harry, Ron and George were playing a cards game and dad was holding the brochures. I took it that he had just read them.

"Well, it is almost five, we could go back, clean ourselves up and see what the dining room has to offer." My mom said.

"Brilliant plan, Mom." George said. He quickly got up and grabbed his stuff. "Shall we wait for each other at the entrance of the restaurant at six?"

"Yeah, we should be able to shower and get dressed in an hour." I agreed, I realized that I was hungry as well. My stomach was growling. Everybody agreed, so we packed our stuff and walked back together.

"We should dress up, though. It's a very luxurious hotel and I think they don't appreciate us wearing shorts and flip-flops." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"I don't have dressy clothes with me." Ron objected.

"Sure you have, I packed long trousers and a couple of button down shirts for you." Hermione said without hesitation.

"Okay." Ron grumbled, but mom and Harry agreed with Hermione so Ron had to give in anyway.

Back in our room I told Harry to shower first, I needed time to select something nice to wear. While I heard the shower run, I searched for one of the more sexy lingerie sets I bought, a dark blue one with push up bra and lace panties, and a short form fitting, low cut dress. When Harry got out of the bathroom I took my lingerie with me but let my dress hanging on the door of the closet. Part one of getting Harry back for teasing me was going to be so much fun.

I showered quickly to wash of any sunscreen residue and I washed my hair. I took my time to dry my hair and put on some light make up. After that I turned to the lingerie set that was waiting to be showed.

It's remarkable what beautiful lingerie can do for you self-esteem, I felt beautiful when I viewed myself in the large mirror. I giggled softly as I tried to imagine Harry's reaction when I would walk into the room like this. Strangely, the thought of being so exposed to him didn't make me nervous, it made me tingle with excitement.

I grabbed my things, took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom.

"Ginny, we should…" Harry started to say but gasped as soon as he looked up at me.

"What did you wanted to say?" I asked as I turned to him, this gave him a full view of my body. I tried to look innocent but I think I failed. Harry got up from the edge of the bed and walked towards me. Our eyes never let go of each other. I felt Harry's hand brushing my stomach, the other touched my face. Slowly his lips touched mine and my blood boiled up to the surface, the heat pulled us into a kissing frenzy. I felt my heart grind against my ribcage and my legs trembled as Harry's hand touched more and more of my skin.

Suddenly he pulled away and rested his head against mine.

"Ginny…" he breathed. "You look so good but I can't take you to dinner like this. I might end up eat you instead of the food."

I giggled and much to my relieve the electricity in the air cleared.

"I was planning on putting on more clothes but you distracted me."

"Good, we have to hurry it's almost six."

Harry's hands released me as he turned toward the bathroom, I swear I heard him muttered something like, 'to much' and 'payback'. I grinned, this was still my revenge. He had been teasing me the whole afternoon, I wasn't done with him yet.

We got the restaurant with only a minute to spare, everybody was already waiting for us.

"Finally." George called and turned to walk in.

Harry showed our card to the hostess, who was receiving guests at the door. She looked down at the card and up at us again before she broke in a smile.

"Follow me, please." She said as she turned around.

The restaurant was something to behold, beautiful. At three sides it was open, leading out to large balconies that framed views of the Islands mountains, cliffs and the sea. The soft breeze made the temperature really pleasant and the scent of food almost made me giddy.

We walked towards the balcony with the most stunning view I had ever seen. To the right there were rough mountain ridges, in front the muggle village of Playa Blanca and the rests showed the sea turning colors as the sun started to set.

The hostess lead us to a private table for seven. Two elves were waiting to serve us.

As we sat down the hostess explained how to get food and drinks.

"For any kind of drinks you can ask our little helpers, they will serve you anything."

The way she spoke about the house-elves was really sweet, like Hermione did, as if to her they were truly helpers.

"On each plate you'll find a menu, just speak the number of the dish you want and you'll be served immediately." She finished with a smile. "Have a nice meal."

Dinner was perfect, the food was even better than what my mom made or than what was served at Hogwarts. Mom allowed me to drink wine with the rest of the family and for the first time I really enjoyed the taste of wine.

The whole family chatted happily about everything we could think off.

My most favorite topic of the evening was trying to get George to spill on his secret love. I knew George was in love with some girl, I had overheard him talking about it with Fred a few months before the battle but he never told who it was.

"No, not until she knows it."

"And when is that going to happen?" Harry challenged.

"I don't know. I don't know when I see her again."

"So we will be waiting for the next twenty years or so." Ron chuckled.

"If you keep it up like this I'll never tell."

We all laughed at George's antics and he soon joined in. Staying angry or frustrated was never his strongest quality.

When we were finishing up dessert the conversation returned to the holiday.

"What should we do tomorrow?" my mom asked. I hadn't read the brochures yet, so I really had no idea what we could do.

"Oh, I have already made plans for us tomorrow." Harry said.

"What?" six voices sounded as one.

"Yeah, I arranged it when I booked the hotel. A muggle who is married to a witch is taking us around the island tomorrow. He's a tour guide for the magical community and he is going to show us around, tell us what we should see and what things we can do on the island."

I think all of us agreed that, that was a good plan for the next day. It would give us a good idea what was there for us to do besides the standard lazing and shopping.

After dinner mom and dad wanted to go to the evening entertainment show, as it was a dancing workshop for older couples non of us 'kids' wanted to go with them. Instead we went to the pool bar to have a few drinks and laughs before going to our rooms.

George ordered us drinks while we sat down at the edge of the pool. Completely giddy with the feeling of freedom, from parental prying eyes, and perhaps the wine, I sat in Harry's lap. As he and Ron talked about possible excursions and activities that were being offered on the island, I played with Harry's fingers, places small kisses on his neck and shoulders. I think it was the wine because I didn't even care about my brothers being there.

"Ginny, you are driving me crazy." Harry hissed when I quickly let my tongue taste his skin.

I just shrugged, I really couldn't care less. I repeated my actions a few time before I noticed how it effected Harry. I could feel his hardness pressing against me. When I reached for my drink I shifted my position slightly so that I could feel him even better against my ass. It felt surprisingly pleasant and exciting.

I shifted again and Harry groaned in my ear. "Stop it!" he hissed.

I didn't, I continued to sip my cocktail as if I didn't hear him, every now and than changing my position slightly. Payback was good.

"George, this has alcohol in it." I said when I noticed the alcoholic after taste of the cocktail.

"yeah, mom let you drink the wine so I thought you would enjoy something more grown-up now as well."

"I do, it just surprised me."

I have to admit the alcohol started to get to my head a little bit but it wasn't very heavy. I didn't feel drunk or anything just more confident in the things I did. Like teasing Harry. Sometimes he grabbed me just to make sure I didn't more, every time he did that he also hissed in my ear, but his hisses were making me only want more.

When we both emptied our glasses Harry pushed me up.

"We're going, I'm tired and we have a long day tomorrow." He said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me along. We said goodnight to Ron, Hermione and George quickly, Harry was in a rush.

I giggled as he pulled me along towards the building, Harry didn't say anything but I was able to see a smile spreading across his face. Suddenly he stopped and pulled me against him.

"I love it when you laugh so happily." He said as he kissed a line down my neck.

"You make me very happy, Harry." I admitted.

"I also like how you can be such a tease. I never expected that from that shy blushing girl I met six years ago."

"Hmm, maybe it has always been there, maybe I was just too young to let it out." I teased as I pressed myself closer to him.

"Yes, maybe, but I do have to warn you, someday you might just drive me crazy."

"You said something like that before." I whispered.

"I meant it."

I giggled again and Harry took a step back.

"Come on let's get you some sleep, you're talking strange, perhaps you need to rest and sleep of the alcohol." He said with a grin that told me that I wasn't going to get rest anytime soon.

Quietly we arrived at our room. Harry went to get changed in the bathroom while I searched for something more comfortable to wear. In the closet I found a light bleu satin bathrobe, I didn't hesitate for a second. Quickly I got out of my dress and shoes and wrapped the robe around me.

I opened the glass slide door and stepped out, the view of the setting sun was beautiful and I wanted to enjoy it as long as possible.

While I waited for Harry I thought about what happened today. Something had changed between us. It felt more free, more open. I didn't feel nervous about touching Harry any more and the little sexual touches between us didn't make me blush like they used to do, they made me excited for more. I was sure Harry felt the same, he was much more open and free about his needs for me. I felt it when he was rubbing sunscreen on my skin, when he shifted me when I sat in his lap, with the little remarks that he made.

Suddenly I was pulled back to the present when Harry's arms wrapped around my waist.

"I've been watching you for five minutes without you noticing it, what were you thinking about?" he whispered in my ear. His whole body pressed against mine and it was clear what he had been thinking about.

"Us." I breathed.

"What about us?"

"About today, about suddenly feeling free."

"Hmm-mm." Harry hummed in agreement. His lips pressed against my ear and his hands moved to untie my robe. The knot fell away easily and my robe hang loosely off my shoulders.

Harry's fingers started to trace patterns on my stomach, slow circles, the next one a bit bigger than the one before. His lips never left my skin as he trailed kissed from my ear to my shoulder, sometimes I felt his tongue brushing me and sometimes he softly sucked my skin.

I couldn't help but press myself more into Harry, the friction that my movement created made him groan softly. Harry's hands slowly made their way up my body, brushing my breast lightly as he reached for the hem of the robe. Softly he moved it of my shoulders, kissing the skin that it revealed.

Suddenly I stood there with nothing on but my lingerie, and it didn't made me one bit uncomfortable. I felt Harry's skin pressing against me and I noticed that he was only wearing his boxers. I reached behind me to pull him even closer, feeling his need pressing against my ass. I let my fingers trace patterns on the side of Harry's leg, I couldn't reach anything else.

My bra straps were next to go, and with a sudden movement Harry released the whole thing. It slid down my arms where Harry took it and threw it back into the room.

"Are you sure nobody can see us." I whispered as I realized I was standing outside almost naked.

"Yes, this hotel offers the best security available for wizards. That's why I choose to agree with your choice."

His fingers trace their slow path down from my shoulders to my breast. I gasped when they reached my nipples, they were already so hard and so sensitive. Softly Harry played with them, making me moan with every movement. Agonizing slowly his hands cupped my breast. The feeling of him massaging and playing with them was amazing.

Heat flared up between my legs and my panty was drenched with in a few second.

"Oh, that feels so good." I moaned. I had to lean against him so that I wouldn't fall, my legs felt like jelly.

"Come." Harry breathed as he pulled me back into the room. I followed him back towards the bed, and lay down next to him.

His lips pressed against mine and I pulled him into a deep kiss. My finger tangled themselves in his unruly hair. It turned into a wet sloppy needy kiss as our tongues played with each other. Harry's hands weren't still either, while one was holding onto my hair the other was kneading my breast and playing with my nipple. Quite a few times my back arched on it's own accord.

Harry's lips started their search for my nipple as well, wet kisses trailed downwards until they reached their destination. When his tongue lapped at my nipple I gasped.

"Oh…oh…"

He opened his mouth and sucked softly. Soft whimpers escaped my lips. I felt his teeth brush my flesh, making my even more shaky. My hips even left the bed for a second.

"Harry, please…" I begged. I was becoming so hot and wet down there that I ached.

"Please, what…" his said in that illegal sexy rough voice. "Tell me what you want Ginny."

"Please touch me."

He silenced me with his lips but his free hand traveled down my belly to the hem of my, now completely wet, lace underwear. Harry looked me in my eyes as his hand slipped under the fabric.

"Tell me what feels good." He whispered.

His fingers had reached my hairline and halted. I urged him on by pushing my hips towards his hand. He got the message and softly brushed my heated flesh.

"Oh, god." I gasped. Any form of whole sentences never came out.

Encouraged by my completely involuntarily reaction he slid one fingers between my lips. My legs spread a bit further to give him more access. As this was the first time he was touching me like this it took him a while to find what he was looking for but when his finger brushed the oh-so sensitive nerve button I actually let out a soft high pitched scream.

He repeated this movement a few times before exploring further, I was already completely writhing with pleasure. His fingers reached my entrance but didn't slide in immediately like I wanted, instead he explored the outer part of it. Driving me insane.

"Please, Harry." I begged again as I raised my hips to meet his fingers.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, please. I need you to."

After a few seconds he slid one finger in. I gasped and trashed, it felt so good. When he started to move his finger slowly in and out me I though I was in heaven. I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from screaming.

"More, Harry please, more." I begged.

When I felt him fill me with two fingers I screamed.

"So tight." I heard him whisper. "so wet."

He moved his hand slightly, his thumb on my pleasure button and two fingers filling me. Slowly he started to move his hand, every time he moved his fingers back in he brushed my clit.

"So good… so good." I gasped every time. Suddenly I felt the heat from my core spread until it reached my brain. I can't even remember if I screamed but my orgasm overwhelmed me completely. I had never imagined something feeling so good.

When I returned from orbit Harry was kissing me along my jaw. His finger still playing with me but lighter, more like a tease. I pulled him to me to kiss him when I felt his hardness against my leg. I was ashamed to admit that for a short while I completely forgot about him but feeling him like this made me wanting to give him as much pleasure as I just experienced.

Instead of pulling him closer I moved my hand down his abs, quickly reaching his boxer. I didn't go under the fabric but traced with one finger around the outline of his hardness. I looked up in time to see his eyes close. As I repeated my movement with my whole hand Harry trembled softly.

I grabbed him through the fabric and squeezed softly. I had read in one of those muggle magazines about what felt good for a man but I wasn't completely confident. Harry's moaning whipped away my hesitation. It just sounded so sexy and resonated so deep in me that I got heated again.

"Harry, can I…" I indicated that I wanted to remove his underwear. He nodded, so I slowly removed the boxers. On purpose I hadn't looked at his now exposed body part, I was afraid that I might loose my nerves. Being brave I took a look and was completely overwhelmed by need and passion. His need for me stood up in all it's glory. Although I wondered for a second, how on earth that was going to fit, I wondered more about how it would feel to have that in me. Harry's fingers had felt good but his dick was so much bigger, so much more massive.

Harry noticed my hesitation.

"Ginny, you don't have…" I silenced him with a finger.

"Shh, Harry." I said as I kissed just above his belly-button. "just realized how much I want you."

To made my statement more powerful I softly rubbed his hard body part with my hands.

Harry moaned in pleasure before he focused on me again. He raised himself up so that our faces were only an inch apart.

"Are you sure?" He breathed.

"Yes." I said without hesitation.

Harry pulled me to him and kissed me, first softly, than more passionately.

"Really, because I would understand."

"Yes, Harry, I want you, I want you now."

He kissed me again pushing me slowly backwards until I was laying on my back again.

"Do you have any idea how that sounds." He breathed.

"Tell me?"

"Like nothing I heard before. Dreamlike."

Harry slowly removed my underwear placing kisses as he went. His fingers brushing my sex again, making moisture leaking out of me. I pulled him to me until his whole body was covering mine. The feeling of his hard cock laying on my belly made me tremble with anticipation.

I opened my legs so that he could lay between them. I gasped as he pressed against my entrance.

"Ginny, please tell me if I hurt you."

"It will hurt anyway, just go slow." I said with a kiss. He nodded and traced his free hand down my belly. His finger slid between us and brush my clit making me begging for him.

He had driven me almost to a second release when he pulled away his hand and placed it besides my head.

He leaned down to kiss me as his hips slowly pushed forward. I felt the breath being knocked out of me and my sex wrapping around him. The feeling of him slowly filling me was something I never wanted to forget, it felt so damn good.

Harry stopped when he reached my barrier. He looked at me, the question clear on his face. I nodded and pulled him back into a kiss. I wanted this, more than anything, the little pain that would come with it was nothing compared to my need to feel him completely in me.

He pushed through, I let out a soft squeal of pain.

"Sorry." Harry mumbled, already trying to pull away.

"No." I stopped him. "it's okay. Just give me a second."

After a minute or so the pain disappeared and the feeling of him in me brought back the tingling pleasure. Slowly I moved my hips, pressing against him. Harry got the message and slowly pushed in all the way. I felt my body stretch for him but it felt oh so good.

Softly Harry moved back and forward again. It was a little awkward in the beginning to get the hang of it. I think it showed that we both were virgins and hadn't the slightest idea of how this might work, but after a few minutes we got a good rhythm.

"oh, Ginny…you feel so good."

I think I could say the same about him, but my mind blanked and my body took over as I heard him talk. I clawed at him trying to pull him closer, but he just couldn't get close enough. Harry shifted his position a little as I wrapped my legs around his waist, he got even more deeper, hitting a spot that made me scream his name.

Harry picked up his pace and drove me over the edge again, warmth and fire spread through my body and I felt my muscles clench around him. Harry let out a groan and let go himself. I felt him spill in me as he shuddered with pleasure.

We lay tangled up in each other for a few minutes, catching our breath. Between each breath Harry softly kissed me. I was totally dazed by what had just happened. I had expected being with Harry like this to be nice, fun, romantic but also awkward and stressful but never had I considered it to be so good, so pleasurable, so fantastic.

I blinked a few times to clear my head, it was still completely fuzzy.

"Are you okay?" Harry whispered.

"Better than okay, I think." I breathed.

"You aren't hurt?"

"No, not at all. Harry, that was amazing." Even to me my voice sounded hoarse.

Harry smiled and kissed me deeply. "Yeah it was."

He pulled out of me and lay down next to me. Although I felt an immediate pain of loss, I couldn't help but sigh in contentment as I was pulled into his arms. We lay there both completely amazed by what had just happened. I almost fell asleep when Harry stirred.

"Do you want to take a shower?" He asked softly. That's when I realized I was all sweaty and the sheets felt damp.

"Yeah, that might be nice."

Already a bit stiff from using different muscles I crawled out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. Harry followed me in, it was a bit strange but I think I would be able to get used to showering with Harry. We washed each other and laughed happily. Both to tired to do any funny business in the shower. When I dried my hair, Harry went to the bedroom to get some clothes on.

"Ginny?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you are okay?"

"Yes, why?" Curious I looked into the bedroom.

I saw Harry standing next to the bed, looking down. I followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at. In the middle of the white blanket lay a few smears of blood.

"Oh." I gasped**.**

Harry looked up at me with sad eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you."

"Harry, you didn't hurt me, not really. This is what happens. Don't worry about it."

"Are you really okay?"

"Yes. I feel better than I have ever before." I said, almost sighing, he could be so hard to convince when he thought differently. Stubborn, I believe it was called.

I saw his face slowly change from sadness to the biggest grin I had ever seen. He nodded and turned to his bedside cabinet. I watched him pick up his wand pointed it to the sheets and muttered 'Scourgify'. The blood vanished and the sheets looked as clean as they were before our little moment.

I smiled at him and turned back toward the bathroom to get my nightgown. When I returned to the bed Harry was already waiting for me. I slid in and crawled up close to him. Butterflies were going crazy in my stomach as I felt Harry pulled me closer to him and kissed my hair. I could have stayed there in his arms for the rest of my life but I knew when the sun got up we had to get up and face the family again.

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**Now don't forget to review**


	20. Amazing HPOV

_**Thanks you all for reviewing my last chapter...I'm happy everybody liked it... I sure had a hard time letting go of my innocent image of Ginny and Harry...**_

_**Next chapter is something new...This is Harry telling how he experienced his first time...Now I wasn't sure to post it as an outtake or in the story... so I'll try it in the story first...If you guys/girls don't like it let me know because I do plan on letting Harry have his say on the big moments in his life (engagement, wedding, pregnancy, birth...etc)**_

_**I hope you all enjoy this, I promise to have Ginny's next chapter up soon **_

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**20. Amazing HPOV.**

I never thought that I would be the kind of man that wanted a woman so much. I never really thought about needs, sexual needs, my life had been controlled by fear, anger and danger. The love that had been in my life had been pure and innocent. but since that kiss we shared in McGonagal's office it started to grow. I needed her, to pull her close to me, to feel her warm skin against me, to love her, to kiss her, and to make love to her. I'm not ashamed to admit that the raw need I felt terrified me, I never dealt with it before, and at some times, specially when we lay pressed against each other in bed, I though I was going crazy.

But over the last few weeks I learn that it was normal, Ron was dealing with the same issues. Ginny told me that she too felt it and she was okay with it. Let's take things slowly, she said.

Slowly we learned from each other, she showed me what it was to be happy, to have someone special in your life, someone that takes care of you, someone who will be there for you. She showed that it was okay to have needs and to want somebody sexual. I don't think I could ever explain to her what she meant to me.

Today, we were ready, ready to take our relationship to a whole new level. The way she teased me, and I her, was liberating. I felt finally free to show her my love for her, my need for her, and I loved how she met my teasing.

I had always known that she could be feisty, her jinxing ability and the powerful curses showed how much drive my girl had, and she answered my teasing with her own feistiness.

As I stood against the glass sliding door, watching Ginny in her light bleu bathrobe, I thought about our day.

The moment we stepped into this hotel room I wanted to touch her, to feel her lips against mine, her body pressing her heat into me. The grandeur and beauty of the room was nothing compared to what I felt for Ginny.

I had pulled her against me, crashing my lips onto hers. My tongue brushing her lips and she parted them a little, letting me in. The way she tasted, god, I don't know even how to describe it, but it was bliss.

"Do you want to go swimming?" I asked knowing our alone time had to wait until later.

"Yeah, we better behave and meet the family at the pool." Ginny didn't sounded to excited about the idea of being with her family again and all though I didn't either I knew we had to.

As I looked at her pout a waved of inspiration had hit me, I wanted her to remember what could happen later, when we had time to be together. I moved my hands from her back to her ribs and let my thumbs brush her nipples shortly. I let go of her quickly we needed to get going.

Ginny dressed herself in a very sexy bikini, when I heard that she had even more revealing selections packed I wasn't sure to be either excited or apprehensive. I wasn't going to be very happy if all the men in the hotel were going to ogle at her.

And the sunscreen, I knew Ginny asked me to help her apply was a little teasing from her side but I couldn't help but turning it around. Her skin under my hands felt so good, so warm. When my hands reached the inside of her tights I almost lost it, I felt the heat coming from her. I quickly let go of her and lay down on my stomach, I think otherwise it would have shown where my mind went.

Like I said, I don't know why but my brain and body were ruled by Ginny and my need for her.

Ginny's payback came, and I don't think I would ever complain about her way of payback. I also don't think I'll ever forget the way she looked when she walked out of the bathroom dressed in nothing but see-trough, dark blue, lace lingerie.

I wanted to tell her to hurry but I completely lost the ability to speak. As I let my eyes roam over her body the electricity in the air sparked. I felt my need for her harden as our eyes met. I'm sure she tried to look innocent but she failed and it made her only more alluring. My body acted on it's own accord as I felt myself moving towards her.

The skin of her stomach was so soft, so smooth under my fingers. Her lips were flaring with heat as I kissed her with as much passion as I could find. Soon my heart was beating like crazy and my hardness became almost painful. I regretted for the third time that day that there wasn't time.

""Ginny…" I breathed. "You look so good but I can't take you to dinner like this. I might end up eating you instead of the food."

Which in a way was true, I wanted to taste her skin, I wanted to see if her soft breast, now covered in dark blue see-through lace, tasted the same as her lips. I wanted, needed her.

I still don't know what happened to the shy boy I use to be, but I think it was safe to say he was gone forever.

"I was planning on putting on more clothes but you distracted me." Ginny giggled. I loved the sound of her giggles, happy, careless and free. It reminded me that there was finally some peace and happiness in this world.

After dinner I found out that the dark blue see-through lace had only been the start of Ginny's teasing.

When George suggested to have a drink at the pool bar we all agreed, it was still early and we had all the time in the world. Sure, I did wanted to get back to the room and finally have my privacy with Ginny but we were here first and foremost to spend some quality time with friends and family. I was surprised that Ginny was a bit giddy but she had been drinking wine so I thought that she must have felt the effects of the alcohol.

She giggled softly as she sat down in my lap, I didn't complain, I felt completely happy to hold her in my arms. What I wasn't prepared for was Ginny feeling free enough to tease me in front of her brothers. It sure must have been the alcohol.

She wasn't interested in talking, instead she listened and kissed me. Her soft kisses in my neck were very distracting but when she softly licked the sensitive skin under my ear my need for her returned in full force.

"Ginny, you are driving me crazy." I hissed at her, hoping she would at least stop darting her tongue over my neck, but she just shrugged. She felt I was getting hard, the way she sat in my lap ensured that.

Suddenly Ginny leaned forward to get her drink from the table, when she slid back her ass was rubbing against me. I had to take a sip of my own drink to prevent from groaning. She shifted again and again, every time building up the pressure. At one point I had to grab her hips and stop her from moving, I was getting so close.

I shook my head to bring myself back to the present. Back to the beautiful woman that was standing in front of me, dressed in dark blue lace lingerie covered in a light blue robe. Her hair hang loose of her shoulders. The satin of the robe clinging to her skin showing the curve of her tiny ass.

I couldn't wait any longer for her touch, for her to be in my arms. I walked to her, wrapping my arms around her waist.

"I've been watching you for five minutes without you noticing it, what were you thinking about?" I asked.

"Us." She breathed.

"What about us?"

"About today, about suddenly feeling free."

"Hmm-mm." I agreed, we had been thinking about the same thing. I wondered for a second how free we both really felt. Were we ready to be totally free. I though I was, my twitching cock was practically begging for release.

I kissed her neck as I let my hands roam her belly. The knot she had made to tie her robe was no match for my fingers as they longed for the touch of her skin. With her robe open I looked down her front, the dark blue lace of her bra peaked out from underneath it.

As I kissed and licked a path up and down her neck, she whimpered softly. My hand brushed her breast as they freed her body of the satin robe. She leaned back against me, her skin on my skin. I wanted to touch the soft skin of her breast, my hand ached for it. I moved slowly to release them from the bra, if Ginny would have any objections she would be heard. But she said nothing as I unclasped the dark bleu lace. I threw the lace back into the room, I sure wanted to have her wear this again, so I decided not to let it lay on the floor.

"Are you sure nobody can see us." She whispered.

"Yes, this hotel offers the best security available for wizards. That's why I choose to agree with your choice." I promised her.

I traced my fingers slowly down to her breast, her nipples were hard and begging to be touched. First I brushed them with my fingers, not sure how hard or how soft to touch them as they never been so hard before. I trusted on Ginny's reactions. When I took her nipples between my fingers she whimpered, when I rolled them softly she gasped, when I took her whole breast in my hand and squeezed them she moaned.

Her breast fitted perfectly in my hands, I looked away from the skin that I had been kissing to see it for myself. The sight didn't do any good for my painful need. Ginny wasn't helping by pressing herself even more against me, her ass rubbing my dick.

"Oh, that feels so good." She moaned, sending shots of lighting straight towards my lions. Her hands brushed my legs slowly they even closer to my hardness, it made my legs feel like jelly.

"Come." I whispered as I pulled her towards the bed. My legs felt shaky and I wasn't sure that I would be able to stand any longer.

Laying down next to me, only dressed in that dark blue lace panty, she took my breath away. Her eyes were flashing with lust.

Without even thinking about it I kissed her deep and hard, my hand tangled in her hair, while they other played with her nipples. Ginny whimpered and moaned my name, every time I heard it my dick twitched. Needed to taste more of her my tongue slid down onto her nipple, her back arched, pressed her breast against my mouth. I sucked softly not wanted to be to rough but her soft whimpers pushed me to do more. I took her nipple between my teeth and but softly. She whimpered and trashed.

"Harry, please…"

"Please, what…" I asked, "Tell me what you want Ginny."

"Please touch me." To indicate where she wanted to be touched she raised her hips. Amazed by her request, never before had she asked me to touch her like that. Slowly I let my hand roam her belly until it reached the see-through lace. I looked at her to see if she was sure, when I saw no doubt in her eyes I slid my hand under the panty. Touching her like this for the first time made me slightly unsure.

"Tell me what feels good." I asked her. The only answer I got was her hips pushing up to meet my fingers. Her skin was so warm, so wet. I let my fingers to explore the outside of her sex.

"Oh, god." Ginny gasped as my fingers brushed her soft sensitive skin. She spread her legs a bit making room for my hand to move freely. Still not sure what she needed, I tried different things, letting my fingers explore her soft flesh. When my finger brush her hard swollen clit a high pitched whimpered escaped her lips. Encouraged by her reaction I repeated the movement. With every touch she whimpered.

She was getting even more wet, curious I explored her sex with my fingers. The entrance to her core was slippery, I let my fingers slid through it as I imagined what it would feel like to have my hard member inside this warm wetness.

I wanted to feel it, to know how it would feel inside her, even with one finger would be enough for now, but I wasn't sure…

Ginny raised her hips again, pressing against my fingers.

"Please, Harry." She begged.

"Are you sure?" I asked a bit surprised. Never before had she begged like this.

"Yes, please. I need you to."

Her words sounded like heaven but it was nothing compared to the feeling of her folds against my fingers. Slowly I slid in one finger, my eyes closing as the feeling of she warmth shot through my body. Softly I explored her sex. Ginny was writhing with pleasure.

"More, Harry please, more."

I did what she begged me to do and slid in a second finger. It felt so tight and so wet. I tried very hard not to imagine how she would feel around my cock, I didn't think I would have been able to stay sane.

Remembering her whimpers when I brush her clit I thought about trying something new. I changed my hands position slightly so that my thumb was able to brush her clit while my other fingers stayed inside her. It took me a few seconds to figure out how to hold my hand but once I got it Ginny lost it completely.

"So good… so good." She whispered.

Her whimpers, her high pitched screams, her body slamming into my hand, everything made me want to bring her to the edge and over it. It was so special to see her like this, to see her so beautiful lost in pleasure.

I felt her muscles clench around my fingers as she screamed my name when her orgasm rolled over her. I couldn't help but smile. I loved to see my girl like that. In that moment I completely forgot my painfully hard cock and focused on her.

I couldn't pull my hand away, I tried but the feeling of loss washed over me the moment I thought about it, so while Ginny slowly returned from her pleasure high I continued to stroke her.

She turned to her side reaching for me, but halfway through the motion she stopped. A sly smile formed our her lips as she glanced down to wear her leg brushed against my hardness. Slowly she traced the outline of it with one finger. It was like a trail of flames. When her hand rubbed me again I shivered with pleasure.

I saw something flashing in her eyes before they darkened like they had when I touched her, I recognized her lust in it. Through the fabric she took hold of my cock first gently, than a bit harder, making me whimper and moaning.

"Harry, can I…" she whispered, playing with the hem of my boxer, making perfectly clear what she wanted. I nodded and helped her remove my last bit of clothing.

Never before had I been so physically naked before her, for her to see. I panicked a bit by the imagination of her reaction. I waited for her to continue, fighting very hard to stay calm and not showing any of my initial fear. But she hesitated.

"Ginny, you don't have…" I started to say, but she smiled at me and pressed one of her fingers against my lips.

"Shh, Harry." She said, as she leaned in to kiss my just above my belly-button. "I just realized how much I want you."

To make matters worse, or better, she softly massaged my naked hardness. Was she for real? Was she really willing to go there, tonight? I had planned for us to have a romantic night out the day after tomorrow, I thought if anything would happen it would happen that evening. My whole body shook softly as I imagined what she really meant.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." There was really no doubt in her eyes, only the dark lust.

I took her in my arms, kissing her as I lay her back down next to me.

"Really? because I would understand." I had to ask. I wanted her, I wanted to feel her sex wrapped around me, I wanted to take her and make her mine in the oldest way possible. Really, I wanted her, but I would never force her. We had time, it didn't need to happen tonight.

"Yes, Harry, I want you, I want you now." She breathed.

Oblivion. Nothing short off heaven those words created.

"Do you have any idea how that sounds."

"Tell me?"

"Like nothing I heard before. Dreamlike." There was no other way to describe it. I leaned in to kiss her, softly, passionately and needy. Slowly I moved my hands down her stomach and grabbed the dark blue lace that had been driving me crazy. In a quick move I removed it from her body.

On their own accord my fingers moved towards her warmth, brushing soft and swollen skin. She was still wet, playing with her clit made her even wetter, I saw droplets of moister clinging to her hair. Ginny was already whimpering and moaning. I had no idea that such a simple gesture could make a woman so weak with pleasure.

I felt her hands pulling me up towards her, slowly I covered her body with mine. She opened her legs for me. When I lowered myself I felt my cock resting with the head against her wet sex, that was already perfect but I knew what she wanted, what I wanted, but I also knew that what we were about to do was going to hurt her. I just didn't know how much.

Why nobody at school never taught us anything about this, something that we actually could use was a mystery to me. Shouldn't it be one of the most important lessons in life, how to do this without hurting the one you love.

"Ginny, please tell me if I hurt you." I begged, I really didn't want to hurt her.

"It will hurt anyway, just go slow." She said, kissing me softly.

I made sure she was ready by giving my fingers a last work out. I brush and massaged her clit until she whimpered my name.

I placed my arms besides her head and leaned down to kiss her. Slowly I let my hips push forward. My mind blanked as I started to enter her wet hot sex, it was so tight and so warm. I wanted to push in fully, one long hard push. I was sure that would be like entering heaven. But remembering that soon I would hurt the girl I loved most kept me grounded. Anything hard and rough would have to wait until later.

I felt it when I reached her barrier, for a second I wondered if it was even possible to go further, the barrier made her even more tight. I felt Ginny whimpered and looked down at her. Did she really wanted to do this?

She met my eyes and nodded. When I felt her lips against mine again I pushed through. I don't know exactly how to describe it but it felt like an elastic band snapped. Her flesh gave way with just one soft push.

Ginny let out a squeal of pain. It ripped through me like daggers, I would never hurt her on purpose and now in the moment that should have been a total bliss she squealed in pain. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, maybe we should first find some spell or potion to prevent this kind of pain

"Sorry." I whispered as I started to pull back.

"No." she stopped me. "it's okay. Just give me a second."

I stayed still for a while, not knowing what to do, afraid that if I moved it would hurt her more. Moving forward wasn't am option but Ginny wasn't going to let me go backwards either. She held me tightly, her fingers wrapped around my wrists.

After a minute or so Ginny's face relax and she started to move her hips, raising them slowly so I slid further into her.

My body reacted to her as it started to move in the opposite direction, within second I was fully in her. Her muscles stretched around my cock, wet and warm. Slowly I moved back out, when I was almost out all the way I moved forward again. The friction of her tight muscles was so good.

It took us a while before all the clumsiness was gone and we found a good rhythm. Every move I made was faster or harder than the one before. Increasing the friction.

I couldn't help but whimper, "oh, Ginny…you feel so good." It was just a proven fact.

Ginny wrapped her legs around me, opening her entrance even further. I was surprised to see that this way I was able to enter her even deeper, my whole shaft was now covered deep inside her.

I felt the head of my dick hitting a path of flesh that felt a bit different from the rest, rougher, more sponge like. I didn't know what it was but whatever it was it made Ginny scream, her fingers digging in my skin, pulling me closer to her. My chest brushed her nipples with every move I made, and every time I buried my dick deep inside her, she screamed my name.

Suddenly her breath hitched and I felt her muscles clench around me, milking me. When I moved again the heat overtook me. Light flashed in my brain and the tingling warmth moved through my body. With a groan I spilled my juices inside her.

Never before in my life had I felt such a pleasure, such a joy and so much love for someone. Ginny gave me everything. And while I lay there returning from orbit I thought that if this was going to be my life, I would sign the form right now, right here.


	21. I really don't like caves

_**First off, I want to thank you all for the sweet reviews I got on HPOV. I wasn't really sure to post it and you replies ensure that next time Harry wants a word he'll be heard...**_

_**okay so the next chapter I really don't like myself but I couldn't get around the island tour...it got a bit darker than I liked...I blame it on the Deathly Hallows movie, which I really really liked and left me with a lot of ideas for the next chapter...**_

_**I do hope you all enjoy this chapter, sorry for the lack of lemons, though**_

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**21. I really don't like caves.**

_7__th__ of June 1998. Sunday_

I inhaled deeply, my nose pressed against Harry's chest and his lips brushing my hair. I love waking up like this.

"Good morning." He whispered.

"Good morning to you to." I mumbled against his skin. I wrapped my arm around him and pulled him even closer. The feeling of his skin against mine made me relieve the bliss from last night, something I hoped would linger in my body forever.

This moment could have lasted forever and I wouldn't complain.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked.

"Very well, I dreamed about you all night."

"What about me?" I asked surprised.

"Well, lets just say you kind off released the beast in me." He chuckled darkly. I didn't understand at first but when he pulled me even closer I felt what he meant.

"Oh…hmm, that might make two of us." I said and I wasn't lying, I had been dreaming about last night as well, although my mind had been very, very creative.

"I hope you're not joking." Harry said as he wiggled himself down under the covers so he could look at me.

"No I'm certainly not." I said as I brushed my fingers over his chest down to his hard erection. Harry groaned softly as I touched him. Suddenly he grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"Ginny, as much as I want you right now, it has to wait until later…"

"Why?" I asked surprised.

"First, because it's already half past eight and if you want to have breakfast before we leave we better hurry because we will be leaving at ten, and secondly I though you might be a bit sore after last night."

Well he got a point there, I was sore indeed but nothing that I couldn't handle, it felt like I had have my first Quidditch practice of the season, only different muscles were protesting.

"It's not that bad." I mumbled.

Harry lifted my head softly so that our eyes met.

"I know Ginny, still, we have tonight and the next and the next, for at least a fortnight."

A smile slowly covered my face as I thought of all those nights ahead.

"See, let's get some breakfast." He said before kissing me.

When I got put of bed I saw my dark blue bra laying on the desk and the matching panty laying on the floor, it made me blush a little at the memories. I picked them up quickly and put them in the laundry basket. Hotel service.

As I walked towards the closet, for the first time really feeling how sore my muscles were. Instead of dressing immediately I decided to take a quick warm shower to get my muscles working again.

"Will we be walking a lot today?" I asked as I walking into the bathroom.

"No I don't think so."

"Good because I need some time to get my body moving properly again."

"Are you that sore?" Harry asked in surprise.

"It's nothing, more like after the first Quidditch practice of the season." I shrugged. "I'll feel better after a warm shower."

"you better hurry, we only have a short time for breakfast."

I nodded and rushed into the shower. The warm water did feel really good. After I was dressed again I felt much better. During the shower I had come to the conclusion that like with Quidditch practice was the solution to prevent sore muscles. And I was excited about the prospect of more training.

"Do you think Ron and Hermione did…" I tried but couldn't find the words. Luckily Harry seemed to understand.

"Last night you mean?" he asked as he closed the door behind me.

"Yes."

"No, I don't think so." He chuckled darkly.

"Why not?"

"Ginny, you know your brother as well as I do, better even. Do really think he would be able to do that?"

"I don't know, maybe, it's just he's so shy around Hermione and I don't think he knows what to do." I giggled. I looked up at Harry who was blushing a bit.

"Harry? Why are you blushing?" I asked as I ran my finger over his cheek.

"Nothing." He quickly replied, blushing even more.

"Harry?" I pressed.

"Ron knows as much as I do." He mumbled.

"Now than. Than it's not a big problem…" I tailed off as I started to realizing something. "Harry, why do you know Ron knows as much as you do?"

I giggled, the question I asked sounded silly even to my own ears.

"Because I handed Ron those magazines you bought." Harry mumbled again.

"What?"

"Ginny, where did you thought I got any information from, uncle Vernon?"

I gaped at him.

"It's not like the muggles starting to give their kids advise about sex or anything, I think I would have died of shame if uncle Vernon had started to talk about that!"

"What have my magazines to do with any of this?"

"I found them a few days ago, after the picnic, I was curious about what you were reading."

"You read them?"

"Yes." Harry said blushing. "I found them quite educational, actually."

I broke out in laughter, sputtering and giggling as I had the image in my mind of Harry's raised eyebrows while he was reading the magazines.

"Hey, no laughing!" Harry shouted with a big smile appearing, "Remember, you benefited from that as well."

"Yes," I giggled, "but I would have liked to be there with you when you read the magazines. It sure must have been something to behold."

Harry just looked at me and said nothing for a while. We continued to walked towards the restaurant. Once I had my fit of giggles under control again I asked Harry for some more explanations.

"Why did you give the magazines to Ron."

"That's a long, complicated and embarrassing story."

"Won't you tell me?" I asked as sweet as I possibly could.

"Maybe some other time, right now if Ron hears I told you this he'd kill me, so I rather keep this between Ron and myself at the moment."

"Is it that bad?" I wondered.

"No, but if I tell you now, you will be giggling the whole day whenever you look at Ron. I really don't want to explain that."

I looked at Harry, he tried to look serious but he completely failed. The twinkle in his eyes was just to bright.

"Later, then."

As we arrived the hostess lead us to the table were the rest of the family was already seated.

"Hey, look who's finally got out of bed…" George cheered.

"Good morning to you to, George." Harry said.

We said good morning to everybody, ordered drinks and ate breakfast. There was a large buffet style breakfast bar. With too many things to choose from, bread, eggs, English breakfast, sweet cakes, cornflakes, even omelets.

"I'm going to get fat with all this food." I complained as I piled more sweet cakes on my plate.

"There are enough activities on the island to burn it off again." Harry said as he sat down next to me. I blushed a bit because I knew to what his rough voice was hinting. Luckily the rest of the family didn't notice.

"Speaking off activities, what's the plan for today?" dad asked cheerfully.

"Oh, we are going to do the tour around the island. At ten the tour guide is coming to pick us up. According to the leaflet I saw the tour takes the whole day, we will be back before dinner." Harry informed the family.

"What exactly are we going to do during this tour?" Hermione asked.

"Uhm, the guide is going to show us around the island. I think we will drive up north and back again, visiting briefly all the things there are to do. He'll tell us things about the different activities and also explains what we as wizards can and can't do when it comes to muggle villages and area's."

Everybody seemed excited about the plan for today, when Harry and I finished breakfast the whole family was already bouncing around in the lobby. While we waited for the car to arrive the boys played games, mom and dad were looking at gifts in the small gift shop that located at the other end of the lobby. Hermione and I sat in one of the lounge chairs just outside the lobby. The sun was nice and warm, the soft breeze kept things cool.

"It's amazing here, isn't it?" Hermione said.

"Yeah, I love it back home but it would be nice to have the sun so warm."

"I wonder what the island looks like further inland."

"According to that holiday brochure it is littered with volcano's, lava fields and mountains, but I really have no idea what that would look like." I answered her.

"Me neither, Tomorrow, if Harry hasn't planned something, we should go to the muggle village. I want to look around there."

"Me too, I'm sure Harry would have told me if he had anything planned, so I think we can do that."

After a good twenty minutes a car arrived, it looked a lot bigger than the one my dad had owned, but it looked just as old. The driver was clearly a muggle, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt showing the logo of the island.

"I'll go get Harry." I told Hermione.

Quickly I got up and walked to the games area.

"Harry, the tour guide is here."

"Okay, we are coming."

"I'm going to get mom and dad." George said as he ran quickly towards the shop.

Within ten minutes we were ready and driving away. Dad sat in the front seat next to the muggle named Dennis. Dad was firing questions at him non-stop, all were of course about how the car worked. Dennis seemed happy to answer him.

We drove north over a mountain ridge, from the top you had the most amazing view. We drove through Puerto del Carmen, which looked like an amazing city for shopping and hanging around. About thirty minutes later we arrived in the capital city of Arrecife. The route had taken us along the coast, the sea had looked stunning.

In Arrecife Dennis parked the car next to a small bay so we were able to walk around for a while. It wasn't as big as London or anything but it was busy. Lots and lots of tourists, muggle tourist, were walking around, taking pictures and chatting happily. From the parking lot at the bay we could see a lot fort on a island just from the coast.

"That's Castillo de San Gabriel." Dennis told us when he saw us looking. "It used to be a fort but now the muggles use it as a museum. We don't have time today to visit but you can go there later this week, it's only closed on Mondays."

"Are there a lot of wizards and witches around here?" George asked.

"No, not many. The island is very young as I will explain later, but that means there is no real magical history around here, only for the last hundred years or so. Wizard and witches have visited this island long before that but only since around 1870 did the first wizarding family decided to stay here. The wizarding families that live on the island all are located in the southern part of the island, that's because it's more open area, they can hide themselves better."

"What about tourists?" Hermione asked.

"Well, we have about a thousand wizarding families per year who visit the island, but that include only the completely wizarding families. We don't know about wizards and witches who travel with their muggle relatives."

Next stop was the small town of Teguise, it was a lovely village, small alleys and white houses, picture perfect.

"Today the village of Teguise is really busy because of the weekly market. In this village they have a large market every Sunday, it is a market for muggles but I advise you to go and visit next Sunday, it's really something special."

"Don't we have time now?" mom asked.

"No, I'm sorry, but if we want to be back before dinner we can't stop everywhere."

"Are there things we are actually going to do, or is it just a driving tour?" George asked.

"Oh, yes." Dennis said happily. "I have a surprise for you all at the next stop."

We drove up further north, the terrain got more rough and large mountains popped up every where. To our right side we could see the ocean, the waves were much higher than those we saw from our hotel. There were muggles on white boards with a plastic sail. I had absolutely no clue about what they were doing. Dad noticed them too, totally excited he pointed and laughed.

"Look what those muggles are doing, they've got their boot to small." He giggled.

"Actually, Mr. Weasley, they are wind-surfing."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Wind-surfing is a national hobby for those who live on the island. The white boards you see is what they stand on, and with the help of the sail, they catch the wind and ride the waves. The good ones can do all kind of tricks with them, look over there."

He pointed to two men, who were standing on a board. When the wave picked them up they pulled the board in the air and flipped.

"Wow." George breathed, "Can we do that?"

"Yeah, there is a school here that teaches tourists how to ride the waves, but learning those tricks will take you a while." Dennis answered as he handed a flyer to George.

"Cool!" George breathed as he read the flyer.

Suddenly Dennis took a side road, much smaller than the one had been on. There was a sign post but it was in Spanish so I couldn't make out where we were going. We pulled up in a large parking lot, where a lot of cars were already parked.

When we all got out Dennis turned towards us.

"Welcome to Cueva de Los Verdes. This is one of the major tourist attractions of the island. Below our feet lays a large cave system. Part of these caves are open to visitors. And we are going in. Now remember there are only muggles here so we have to be careful to keep a low profile. I thought it would be exciting to join the muggles and have a look around the caves. The woman who is going to lead this tour speaks English."

"You mean we are going to do a cave tour?" George asked.

'Yes, if you want to."

"Wicked." George smiled, "Hey, Dennis, is it possible to find any strange magical animals in there, or other things wizards can use?"

"I'm not sure, maybe, you'll have to pay close attention. I'm the muggle remember, I honestly don't know much about magic."

George smiled and bounced in front of us. Everybody was really excited as we entered the caves, except Harry, he was very quiet and thoughtful. I saw Hermione glancing at him a few times, she had noticed too. I wondered what was wrong.

Dad didn't notice, he had to work really hard to keep up the pretences but after a good five minutes people around us just assumed he was crazy.

Harry and I walked behind the large group of tourists, far enough away from my crazy dad and fussing mom but just close enough to hear the tour guide. He didn't say much but the deeper we got the quieter and paler he got. I squeezed his hand and looked at him, the questions must have been clear on my face but Harry attempted and fail to smile at me. Something was really bothering him.

The caves were really beautiful, old lava tubes they were according to the guide. Deep inside there was a lake it reflected the ceiling of the cave perfectly, at first you couldn't even see it was water it looked more like a caved in tunnel below. After the guide threw a rock in it became clear it was water.

We stood a little bit away from the group, Harry hadn't been interested to see it up close. When I wanted to walk up close to have a better look Harry pulled me back. His stare intensely focused on the water.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"I don't like underground lakes." He growled.

"Why? What is wrong Harry?"

He didn't answer but I felt his arms brushing my arm, when I glanced down I saw that his hand twitch in his pocket, he was holding his wand ready for battle. I tensed up immediately checking my own pockets.

"Harry, tell me?" I whispered.

"The last time I saw a lake in a cave, Dumbledore was poisoned and I was almost killed by inferi, I really don't like these underground lakes." He quickly hissed.

I looked at him for a second our eyes locked together, I could see the hurt of this memory in his eyes. I closed my eyes for a second, breaking the intensity. I wished as I opened my eyes again that I knew what he remembered, that I knew what had happened that made him so scared of this lake.

Suddenly when I met his eyes, I wasn't standing in the by lava created tunnel anymore. I was in a large cave, on a small island with a huge surrounding lake. Harry was lying on his knees in front of me trying to fill a cup with water, next to me lay Dumbledore, looking very, very sick. When I turned my eyes back to Harry, the most cruel, horrifying scene unfolded in front of my eyes. Dead bodies, decaying limbs were grabbing for him. I felt a scream building up in my throat when I heard my name.

"Ginny? Ginny stop it." It was Harry's voice but he sounded very far away. "stop it." I heard again. Suddenly the large lake and the decaying faces were gone and I was looking in a pair of bright green but scared eyes. I was gasping for air.

"Ginny?"

"Harry? What happened." My voice pitched higher as the panic remained in my body.

"I'm not sure but it felt like you just performed Legilimency. You were in my head, making me relive that memory." Harry said breathless.

"Impossible, I wouldn't even know how?"

"I swear…Ginny, are you alright?" He asked as I was still gasping for air, tears were streaking down my face. I just shook my head in denial. The realization of what I had seen hit me hard. That had been Harry's memory, that is what he had to deal with. I wasn't able to reconcile the images from Harry's memory with what I had always imagined. I had imagined pretty bad things but not that, not that horrible.

I felt Harry pulling me into his arms, I felt his fingers stroking my hair.

"It's okay, Ginny." He repeatedly whispered.

After a minute or so I calmed down, noticing my family standing around us.

"What happened?" mom asked.

"I don't know. Mrs. Weasley. And this is not really the place to explain it either." Harry answered as he looked around, quite a few curious muggles were looking at us. Mom noticed it as well. She nodded and handed me a tissue, she smiled softly before following the tour guide with dad.

Harry pushed me slowly in the back to make me moved again. His arm stayed around me as we walked away from that lake.

"Harry?" I whispered.

"Yes." His voice sounded so calm and soothing.

"I honestly don't know what happed." I confessed.

"Me neither." Harry admitted. "We'll figure it out later, lets enjoy the rest of the tour."

I looked at him, his face looked as calm as his voice was. The old Harry would have been brooding on this for hours, demanding immediate explanation, but this Harry, the news horcrux free Harry just looked calm. Like nothing could really bother him.

He noticed my staring and smiled at me. He leaned down to kiss me quickly.

"Ginny, we will figure it out later." He repeated.

"You are not the Harry I remember." I whispered.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, I really like this new Harry, it just takes some getting used too."

"it's a pity though." A voice said behind us. It made us jump.

"George!" I yelled, "don't ever sneak up on us like that again."

George just laughed.

"What's a pity, anyway." I asked.

"That the old Harry is gone. The obnoxious, flammable, easy to tease, Harry will be surely missed. I liked toying with his temper every once in a while. Now not even some unexplainable magic doesn't erase his calm." George shook his head.

"You saw what happened?" Harry asked.

"From a distance. It looked all gooey and sticky but I heard Ginny gasp and I saw your eyes glazing over for a second. It looked a bit weird."

Harry nodded but didn't reply, I guessed his 'figure-it-out-later' idea was still in place.

Harry relaxed further as we left the cave system.

"You really hated in there, huh?" I asked, my voice still sounded shaken.

"Yeah." Harry breathed as he stepped into the sun light.

Mom and dad were talking excitedly about how they loved the muggle tour, as we walked back to the car. Ron, Hermione, George, Harry and I on the other hand were silent, all lost in thought, all wondering what had just happened. Mom noticed.

"Dennis, is there somewhere we can talk in private?" she asked as she indicated towards us.

"Something happened?" Dennis asked worried.

"It's not to worry about, but like to sit down for a second." Harry said.

"Of course, I was planning on riding to an other tourist attraction, you can sit there, eat something and talk."

"That sounds nice, weird things always makes me hungry." George said, his smile fully returned.

We all got in the car, Dennis promised us it was a shirt drive and drove of around the north part of the island. While George and Dad still excitedly looked around, Harry and I looked at each other. Our eyes never breaking contact. Questions in both our eyes were very clear.

The deep green made me vividly remember what had just happen. I recalled the whole scene, me wishing I could see what he had been through so that I could help him, seeing it all through Harry's memory, the fear I felt for him, everything.

I tried to see a reasonable explanation, how could I have entered Harry's memory. I almost got myself a headache just working it out.

"Here we are." The words broke through my deep thoughts, I realized that Dennis had said something. Looking around I noticed we were on top of a mountain.

"This is the Mirador del Rio, it's one of the best view point of this island. There is a small restaurant where you can sit and talk. Remember the place is run by muggles, but you are free to go anywhere. I'll meet you all back here when you are ready."

We all nodded and got out of the car. Dennis handed us the tickets we needed and waved goodbye.

The fresh cool wind that was blowing helped me clear my mind a little. Still utterly confused I tried to pull myself back together. It didn't work as much as I liked, still locked up in complete confusion I heard Harry telling my parents that we would see them in a few minutes but I didn't know why. Harry lead me through a door out on a large balcony, the view from here was amazing. So beautiful it penetrated through the fuzz in my brain enough to be registered.

"Ginny?" Harry asked as he shook my arm quite roughly.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry."

"What was that for?" I snapped as I rubbed my arm.

"Sorry, but I have been calling your name for the last five minutes or so, I had to do something to get through."

"Oh…" I gasped, "Five minutes really?"

"Yeah, Ginny will you please tell me what you are thinking so hard off?"

I looked around for a seat, when I found one I sat down and looked out over the sea in front of us.

"I'm trying to work out what happened, I'm trying to get rid of that memory you showed me. Harry that was horrible."

"I know." He said solemn. "Tell me what happened? From the start."

"I don't know…I saw that you didn't feel comfortable going into the caves. When I asked you I saw the pain, it was so clear in your eyes. I remember wishing that I knew what had happened so that I could say the right things to you. When I looked in your eyes again I was standing in a small island in a large cave, surrounded by water, Dumbledore on the ground looking very sick. It was so scary."

I shuddered as I remembered the scene I saw. Harry sat down next to me, looking silently ahead. Thinking things through.

"If felt exactly the same." He murmured. "Ginny, were you holding your wand at the time?"

"Uhm…" I tried to remember. "Yes, I did… I saw you twitching your wand, I thought something was wrong."

"At the moment you thought about your wish, did you think about anything else?"

"No, I just wanted to help you."

Harry was silent again. For a long time he just held my hand and murmured to his self.

After a while I just had to know what he was thinking.

"Harry, please tell me."

"I think you performed Legilimency. I swear it felt the same as when Severus Snape did it, only less intrusive. Your mind was clear besides your wish and mine was clear beside the memory. There is just no other explanation."

"But Harry, I wouldn't know how to do it."

"I know, that was what I was stumbling over but you know, when I was young, before going to Hogwarts I mean, before I found out I was a wizard, sometimes things happened to me. Like when I was with Dudley in the zoo, I was angry and I made the glass between him and a snake vanish. I didn't know what to do it just happened."

"You think it's like that, what just happened?"

"It could be. Let's ask your dad maybe he agrees with me."

I nodded and followed him back inside. We found the family sitting at a small table, all holding a sandwich and something to drink. I sat down next to Hermione who immediately grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"You okay?" she whispered.

I nodded and smiled, I really did feel a lot better. Harry explained what had happened in the cave to the rest of the family, after that he lay his own assumptions on the table so everybody could give his or hers opinion.

He was looking at my dad, hoping he would shed some light on this, but unsurprisingly it was Hermione who opened her mouth first.

"I think you're right, Harry." She said softly. "When I was nine, there was this girl at school with me who was bullying me terribly. One day she got to me again and I got so upset that I kept wishing that see would embarrass herself for the whole class to see. When after lunch break we went back to the class room I looked at her walking through the door, thinking about how funny it would be of the door slammed shut just behind her so that she would fall over and landed with her face in the flowers that stood on a small table. When I closed my eyes I heard the door slam just exactly as I hoped it would."

We all gaped at Hermione, this was something we would never have expected from her.

"What? I didn't really wanted to hurt her, I just wanted the class to see that she was just as a small girl as the rest of us. Anyways, I think it's quite similar to what happened to you, Ginny."

My dad fully agreed. His advise, ask McGonagall about it she'll be able to help you control it. What was most reliving was that according to mom it was normal for the women from her side of the family to experience these things.

After a long lunch and a good look around we all were happily smiling and on the road again.

Dennis drove south, chatting with dad and pointing out things. I had to admit this island was beautiful, the rough peaks through out the island were stunning.

We drove through the national park, which was surrounding many volcanoes. Dennis informed us that it was possible to do a walking tour through the park, with an expert who would be able to tell all sorts of things. He drove slowly as he pointed out the lava fields and the site of the last eruption. He told us that the stones closest to the crater were still hot enough to cook on.

He handed out leaflets to show us the possibilities of things to do in the national park.

After the park he drove us to a other view point on the west side of the island.

"This is Los Hervideros, it's one of the most stunning cliff sites on the island. You can walk around here, as long as you stay in the paths." Dennis smiled.

It was indeed stunning, the rough waves smashed against the steep side of the island. Creating caves and holes through which we were able to see the waves. I think it was safe to say that we all were a bit in awe of the whole scenery.

We walked for more than a hour, Ron, Harry and George fooling around while Hermione and I were watching the waves from a bench.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked. I knew she was talking about what happened in the cave.

"Yes." I smiled. "It was more the shock of what happened. And the memory I saw."

"You saw Harry and Dumbledore in the cave, with the inferi?"

"Yes, you knew about that?"

"Not much, Harry never talks much about these things."

"No, with me neither. Do you think he should talk about it?" I asked.

"I don't know, I'm sure not going to force him. I think maybe it's best to let it come naturally, like it did today. When he is confronted with the memory."

I nodded, Hermione always had good insight.

"Come on girls, I want to get back before we miss dinner." George shouted as he stood by the car.

"What time is it?" I asked Hermione.

"Around four."

"Than we have time enough to walk slowly and enjoy the view a bit more."

Forty minutes later, after driving through Playa Blanca, we were back at the hotel. George was blissfully happy, Dennis had promised him to arrange a sea fishing trip for him and the other guys. George was literally bouncing. Hermione, mom and I agreed to use that day to do some shopping in the town we saw this morning.

"We'll see you later, dinner at six?" I asked as we walked through the lobby, I wanted to be alone with him. The day had been emotional enough, I needed time together with him to forget everything. Everybody agreed and went their own way. Harry and I made our quick exit to our room.

"You did that smoothly." Harry joked as he crashed on the bed. I jumped after him, making us both bounce. I kissed him deeply before laying down next to him.

"Yeah, I wanted to be alone with you. I hated when mom and dad are watching everything we do."

Harry rolled over on his side and rested his head on his arm, he looked at me for a long time.

"You know it's only two months until you are free of them right?"

"Yeah, I know, and I don't know how we are going to survive those two months." I grumbled.

"Ginny, what I meant is, that in two months time we'll be going through our last year at school, after that I think we agreed to move out your parents place. When we both have a job to do and won't be living close to the burrow you won't see your parents that much."

"I know what you mean Harry, it's just that I don't like being spied on every two minutes."

"We can go to the summer house for a few days when it gets too much." He promised.

"Really?"

"Yes. Now stop worrying."

I smiled and crawled on top of him, tickling as I went. Happy with the idea of more privacy after the holiday


	22. A day out

_**Hey everybody, thanks for all the reviews...I really hope that the next chapter will take me to the 150 reviews...just because they really keep me motivated...**_

_**Also I like to thank everybody who has submitted this story or me as a favorite, it's really awesome to know people love your story.**_

_**Anyways, here is the next chapter, its a short one, but be warned it contains LEMONS, (with capitals)**_

* * *

**22. A day out**

_9__th__ of June 1998 – Wednesday_

The following days, the hours of privacy had been used to good cause. It was as amazing as the first night. Over the last two nights Harry and I had become a bit more adventurous. Trying out different things, feeling more free to explore each other. I have to admit, although we still were a bit clumsy it was fun, and it felt so good.

Even after Harry woke me up this morning I found myself still daydreaming about last nights events.

For the first time I had been bold enough to change my position, instead of letting Harry take control I took it.

Dressed in nothing more than a negligee and panty I had crawled over the bed until a straddled Harry's tights. His eyes wide with anticipation and his cock ready to burst out the fabric of his boxers.

I had kissed him deeply before letting my fingers trace patterns over his chest, following them with my tongue. I found out that Harry was very sensitive to my tongue raking havoc on his chest and nipples. With in a few minutes he had been moaning beneath me. His hips moving around trying to create some friction, but I sat to far away.

Slowly I had let my tongue made my way down, reaching every dip in his muscle hard stomach. When my tongue reached the edge of his boxers I closed my eyes, gaining confidence and steadying myself.

Ever since that first night I had been wondering about what I was about to do. I read about it and was immediately intrigued but would Harry like it, what would it be like, how would he taste, would I have enough nerves to do it.

I let my finger slide under the waistband, teasing Harry lightly before pushing his boxer down.

I didn't look at Harry afraid I might lose my nerve, slowly I kissed his belly-button, letting my tongue dart out. I followed the line of soft hair down until my lips reached his large hard desire.

I heard Harry gasped as I softly pressed a kiss on the top of his cock. It was quickly followed by a moan. Encouraged by his reaction I repeated my action only this time I let my tongue dart out. Amazingly, his skin tasted even better than his lips. Unable to feel shy anymore and completely lost in my own desires I licked along his length. A moan escaped my lips.

I opened my mouth slowly placing it over the head. Not completely sure what to do I slowly tried to wrap my tongue around him, closing my lips and sucked softly.

"Ginny!" Harry breathed, followed by a moan. Suddenly his hands were in my hair.

Slowly I lowered my mouth even further, letting him fill my mouth as much as possible. Harry had moaned and groaned loudly, clearly enjoying the feeling.

After a few minutes I felt his hand tuck my hair softly.

"Ginny, please. I don't want to… you don't have to do that." He breathed as I released him. "I wanted you."

Taking the hint I removed my lingerie slowly, enjoying teasing him. He sat up to let me lay down next to him but I pushed him back. I had to say I rather enjoyed being in control, at least so far.

I straddled him again, now a bit higher, brushing my warmth over his length. I leaned down to kissed him, my long red hair creating a curtain that contained the passion between us. I felt his hands on my hips trailing a path inward until they reached my sensitive skin.

I was wet and ready for him.

My hand slowly sliding down his body, reaching for his hard desire. I lowered myself over him, slowly feeling him sliding in me. I didn't expect him to be able to go any deeper in me than he had the days before but this new position made my body stretch for him even more.

When he was fully sheathed in me I started to rock my hips slowly. Making small circles, I couldn't say it wasn't pleasant but it just wasn't what I was looking for.

I altered my motion from circles to slowly up and down, leaning a bit backwards, letting him slide repeatedly in and out. That felt much, much better.

Harry's hands reached for my breast, his fingers playing with my nipples, driving me completely crazy. Slowly I raised the pace of my movements and Harry answered them, pushing his hips upward, meeting my rhythm, driving his shaft even further in me.

This way it didn't take long for us both to reach the highest place of bliss. He groaned my name as he released his warm seed in me, I quickly followed with a high pitched squeal.

"Ginny!" I heard Harry calling loud, the knock on the door that followed brought me back to the present. Wednesday morning, making myself ready for a day of fun with my mother and Hermione.

"Ginny?" Harry called again. "Are you ready yet, we have to hurry."

I glanced at myself in the mirror, the blush on my cheeks betrayed my previous thoughts, but besides that I read ready.

"Yes, lets go." I said as I opened the bathroom door.

"What took you so long?"

"Lost in my thoughts."

"Anything important?"

"I was thinking about last night, actually." I said with a sly smile.

"Yes, that is definitely very important." He smiled as he pulled me close and kissed me in a way that should be illegal. "Lets go."

After a quick breakfast we were driven to Puerto del Carmen. The men would leave from there for their fishing trip and us, women were planning on an all day out and a shopping excursion. We said goodbye and told them we would wait at the dock for them to return.

"Lets find some souvenirs for Percy, Audrey, Charlie, Bill and Fleur." Mom said happily. Although I had dreaded this day, being alone with mom and Hermione all day, mom was being really pleasant. She chatted happily about what she thought would be nice presents for the boys, and asked us if we would look for something for Fleur and Audrey.

Around lunchtime we had found all the gifts, something specific for every Weasley, and for Fleur and Audrey a beautiful piece of jewellery. We got them both a set of earrings made from silver and a green stone. According to the shop owner the stone was only found in close proximity to an explosive volcano.

"Shall we go for lunch?" Hermione asked as we left the last shop. Over the morning I got extremely relieved that Hermione was with us now, as a member of the family, Mom and I wouldn't have survived in the muggle world without her. Muggle money was still big trouble.

We found a small restaurant close to the marina. Although the names of the dishes they advertised with were unknown to me, Hermione said they would be good. Who was I not to trust her.

"I need to use the bathroom." Mom said. "I'll be right back."

We sat down at a table that had a bit of shade and looked out over the boulevard and the sea beyond. It was a good spot for people watching.

"Ginny! Hermione!" we heard somebody shout. We both looked around for the person calling us. To my, and I'm sure Hermione's, surprise a familiar face came running towards us. Long black hair, colored skin and a bright smile approached us.

"Angelina!" Hermione gasped, she quickly stood up and hugged our former Gryffindor house mate. I followed suit, it was good to see her again, the last time we saw her was at the funeral at Hogwarts.

"Hey, Ginny."

"Hi Angelina. How are you doing?"

"Good, very good. And you two?"

"Yes, really well." I answered. Over her shoulder a man and woman appeared. I looked at them while Hermione answered Angelina.

"Oh, how stupid. Ginny, Hermione, this are my mom and dad."

We shook hands and introduced ourselves. Apparently Angelina's father was a wizard who worked at St. Mungo's and her mom was a muggle.

"We are here on vacation with my grandma." Angelina explained.

"Oh, are you staying at the magical resort in playa Blanca?"

"No, grandma doesn't like magic very much, she wanted to stay in a muggle hotel." Angelina said as she rolled her eyes, "but we do stay in playa Blanca. You too?"

"Yes, but we do stay at the magical resorts." Hermione answered.

"Oh, I really wanted to go there." Angelina said wistful.

"Why don't you come and stay with us for a day, I'm sure the boys would like to have a chat and hang out?" I asked.

"The boys?"

"Yeah, Ron, George and Harry would love to see you, we'll kick mom and dad out with your parents and have fun."

"Oh, you are here with the whole family."

"Almost, just the seven of us, the rest decided they needed a bit of time to themselves."

"Yeah, I can believe that after last year." She nodded. "I would really love to come and hang out. To be honest it's been kind of boring hanging out with your parents and grandma."

At that point mom got back from the bathroom and was delighted to see the Johnson family. She knew Angelina's father pretty well from school, he was about her age. Mom being the perfect hostess invited Angelina and her parents to join us for lunch, and soon we were all seated at a large table chatting happily while food was being served.

"So how are things with the boys? I heard rumors about the great Harry Potter having a red headed girlfriend." Angelina said as she took a sip from her drink.

I laughed at her comment.

"Please, don't tell Harry that, he really hates it when people make a lot out of nothing."

"He defeated Voldemort, it's not nothing, it is huge."

"Yeah, well you know how Harry is, humble as ever."

"Which is really strange if you consider he is a son of James Potter." Angelina's father joined the conversation. "I remember James as a boy who was anything but humble. He was a brilliant wizard and a brilliant flyer of course but he knew it as well. Together with Sirius Black he made quite a pair. They both thought they owned the world."

Angelina's father said it with an adoring voice, not like he was saying something negative but more like it was a happy or funny memory.

"You knew Harry's parents?" I asked.

"Yes, I was in my fifth year when they started at Hogwarts. James was already an established prankster and spoiled brat, together with his small group of close friends he ruled the school from the moment he set foot in it. Lily on the other hand was so humble and so sweet, and really bright. I remember James fell in love with her the moment she sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Mom, you never told us you went to school with Harry's parents." I said.

"I didn't, your father and I left school the year they started. It was only after they left school we got to know them."

"But you didn't answer, are the rumors true about Harry dating a red head?" Angelina giggled.

"Yes, that is so true. Besides George and Charlie all the Weasleys are currently off the market." I said with a nod towards Hermione. Angelina grabbed on immediately.

"Oh, really, is that true Hermione? Did Ron finally figured out you were a girl."

Hermione laughed with us at the memory of the disastrous Yule Ball.

"Yes, during the last year everything between us has changed big time."

Angelina didn't ask about our love life any more but was seriously interested in George's status as a free Weasley. She asked questions about the shop, about him dealing with the loss of Fred, about if we knew what type of girls he liked, all sorts of things. At the end of the lunch it became clear that Angelina had a thing for George, and I couldn't think of a more perfect girl for him.

After lunch we made arrangements for the next day. Mom promised Angelina's parents to go with them on a historical tour through the capital city. Something none of us really wanted to do. Hermione and I promised Angelina to make sure she would be allowed into the hotel and spend the day with us.

"Lets walk the boulevard and find something to do." Hermione suggested.

"Yes, maybe we can find some beach to lay down and enjoy the sun." I suggested.

"Ginny, you have been laying in the sun for the last two days. Don't you ever get enough." Mom laughed.

"No, actually I really enjoy the warmth of the sun, it makes me sleep very well."

"Yeah, we noticed that." Mom said.

"Yes, it makes us wonder what you are doing during the night." Hermione whispered in my ear, making me blush and giggle.

"That's something I hope you are doing as well." I whispered back, with the results I hoped for. Hermione blushed bright red and quickly looked away.

It took a while before Hermione's face was properly colored again, but that was after she was ready to hex me whenever I giggled. I think the fact that we were surrounded by muggles stopped her, but I was sure payback would come. Still it didn't stop me from giggle when ever I thought of her reaction.

Hermione decided to distract me.

"What about Angelina? She looks really into your brother." Hermione hinted.

"Yes, I noticed that, I wonder what George will think of that."

"I think we will see tomorrow." Hermione nodded. "Are we going to stay at the hotel whole day or are we going to the beach. We haven't been there yet."

"I think we stay at the hotel, Angelina sounded like she was more than ready to spend some of her vacation in the magical world."

It was five in the afternoon when we headed back to the marina, all three of us were tired from shopping and walking around, but I really enjoyed the day so far. Even hanging around with mom wasn't that bad. I started to understand what Harry really meant, it was only this summer that we really had the time left to do fun things, after school everything would change, for the better. Still I would indeed have less time to spend with the family.

The men arrived ten minutes after us, all looked happy and windswept.

"And catch anything?" Hermione asked as she kissed Ron.

"Yes, we did. Big fish. Muggles are so weird, they do everything with their hands, a pole and a wire." Ron laughed as he shook his head in disbelieve.

"It was really fun. We all caught a few big fish." Harry told me. "Still it was more fun to see wizards completely confused. I had to explain everything, specially to your father."

"I bet you all had fun."

"Guess who we met during lunch." Mom said excited.

"Who?" Dad asked after kissing her cheek.

"The Johnsons, you remember them, the healer from St. Mungo's."

"Angelina's parents!" George said.

"Yeah, and Angelina." I told him.

"Are they here? On the island I mean." George sounded really excited.

"Yes, we invited Angelina over tomorrow. She's with her muggle grandmother and is fed up with the muggle world, so we told her she could spend the day with us, while mom, dad and her parents go on a tour of the capital city." Hermione informed them while we slowly walked towards the car.

George seemed to be smiling wider than ever before, at least since after the battle. Hermione and I both caught it and looked at each other. We had to turn away quickly before we broke out in a fit of giggles.

"So it's a lazy day at the pool tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"If you don't have anything else in mind."

"No, not really. After today, wrestling with fish all day, I can use a day of nothing."

We took the ride back to the hotel quickly. Enjoying the men bragging about the size of the fish they caught and the stories about muggles who joined them. They all had enjoined the day. Mom filled in dad about the plans for tomorrow while Hermione and I showed the things we had bought.

Harry showed a few pictures a helpful muggle had taken for them. Our camera had stayed in the hotel, wizarding camera's were different from muggle ones and it would be noticed. The muggle had bought Harry's story about a forgotten camera and took a few pictures of them with the fish they caught.

Back at the hotel the men wanted to wash of the smell of fish before dinner. Soon Harry and I were alone in our room again, laying on the bed both dressed in nothing more than boxers and lingerie. Not touching, just looking. My eyes roaming over his muscular chest, noticing the scars that stood angrily over his chest. They had started to fade over the last two or three weeks, still they were red and noticeable.

I remember joking about a tattoo on his chest, it was a silly version of me, thinking that tattoo's were a mark of strong and tough. Now things were different, I was different. I'd rather have the scars and marks staying bright red, for everyone to see, than having them replaced with smooth skin or tattoo.

"What are you thinking?" Harry whispered.

I looked up to meet his eyes. I let my finger trace one of the bigger scars.

"I was thinking about these. About how they showed what you have been through."

"Do they repulse you?"

"No, on the contrary, I was thinking I rather, much rather, look at these than at a tattoo."

Harry snickered, clearly remembering as well.

"Ah, the good old days." He laughed softly.

"I don't really look at that time like that." I confessed.

"Oh, why?" Harry asked seriously.

"Well, it weren't really good days. There was always something dark going on. Always fear, anger, or pain. It was a good time we had together, but I don't think I'll ever think of them as the 'good old days'. I rather hope that when I think of old days I can only remember these days, this holiday."

Harry looked at me, not saying anything but his turmoil was clear. He was working very hard to think of a reply.

"Hmm, I think I can agree to that." He said after a minute or two. "Still I loved the days at school."

"Maybe that's because it was your only real home. I think that influences things a bit."

Harry nodded.

"Still I think that going back will be amazing. I just hope we can escape the ghost of the memories." He said.

"We will, I thought we finally can behave like real teenagers and have fun and mischief." I grinned. Harry smiled back, his eyes lighting up.

"You are truly a sister after your twin brothers."

"And you have to start with proving you are a real son of Hogwarts most famous Marauders."

Harry broke out in laughter.

"Ginny, I might have been fighting for a good cause but I still broke at least as much rules as my dad. But anyway, we make a deal, we make sure every week we do something fun, even if it's against the rules. We'll drag Ron and Hermione in it as well."

I snickered.

"Hermione will be difficult, but deal." I sealed it with a kiss, already looking forward to the days at Hogwarts. I had ideas enough.

"Lets get a shower. I'm hungry." Harry suggested as he pulled away and got up.

"I'm hungry too, but not for food." I muttered, feeling the loss of his lips against mine stinging.

Harry turned his head so fast to look at me that it could have caused him a whiplash. Slowly a grin appeared on his face.

"Than join me."

I blinked a few times, he had never asked me to join him in the shower before. Not like this, with that sly grin on his face. Slowly I got up and reached for his hand. He pulled me up against him and kissed me slowly, intensely and deep. Pouring every bit of need he had in me, making me shiver with anticipation.

Still closely together, lips touching we walked towards the bathroom. On our way Harry's hands made quick work of my lingerie and his boxer, mumbling something about not needing them in the shower.

The water was really warm against our bodies as we tangled our limbs, running down my skin making it even more sensitive to Harry's touch. Harry's hands were everywhere, softly kneading my breast, playing with my nipples, squeezing my butt softly, and brushing the soft skin of my sex. I couldn't keep track of his hands, fingers or lips, I was too caught up in the sensory overload of pleasure.

I squealed a bit when I felt my back pressed against the cold wall, but it immediately warmed. Magic could be so wonderfully helpful.

I'm not sure if Harry even noticed, if he did it didn't show, he slowly pressed himself against me, softly kissing every bit of skin he could reach.

If felt his fingers play with my clit making me shake with the waves of pleasure they created. Slowly one, two fingers slid in me, filling and stretching me. I moaned at the sensation.

I let my nails trace patterns over the skin of his abs and back, sometimes grazing his nipples or the head of his hard cock. Every time I did that his fingers would move harder in and out me, almost rough, I have to admit that I liked it. So hoping for more I reached for his shaft, wrapping my fingers around it, it got the effect I hoped for. I let out a high pitched scream as his fingers roughly slammed back into my sex. At the same time my fingers squeezed around him.

His fingers left me, moving around my hips, down to my knee. Harry lifted up my leg in one move, placing it around himself, opening me up of him. Quickly catching on to the idea, I let go of him. Pressing with my heel I invited him to come closer.

"Ginny." He whispered as the tip of his cock pressed against my core.

"Please, Harry." I begged for him to take me.

"God! I love how you sound when you want me." He whispered as he pushed in. First it was a bit awkward, when I read this position, it always seemed so easy but in practice it takes a little bit of time to find a good way to go.

I wrapped my other leg around him. Trapped between the wall and his hardness, I wanted him to take me. Make me his in a rough and manly way. Harry, being Harry, he started slow taking care of me, making sure I didn't bump my head against the wall, making sure I was cared for.

"Harry, please." I begged as I moved my hips towards him, creating friction and letting him in even more deeper. "Please, take me."

Harry groaned, shifting his position a bit so that I was firmly pressed against the wall. He slowly started to move in and out me. Every movement harder than the one before.

"Harder." I murmured.

Harry replied, slamming his hips against me harder than ever before. Reaching new a dept and making me scream. Every movement ensured that something rubbed my clit, every movement ensured that I felt him hitting that sensitive spot inside me. Soon, too soon, the warmth and tingling took me. My muscles clenched around him as my orgasm shook my body.

"So tight, so damn tight." Harry breathed as he continued to slam in me, taking me hard and driving himself to his release. With a loud groan and repeating my name softly Harry let go. I felt his warm juices being released in me, driving me to a second orgasm. This one soft and fuzzy, taking complete control of my brain.

It took us a while to get back from orbit, heavy breathing and the world still spinning I got back on my feet, holding the wall for support. Harry pulled back and stepped under de warm stream of the shower, pulling me along with him. We didn't talk, words would have been in adequate to describe what we both felt. The silence made the love and passion between us hum even stronger.

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**Don't forget to review...!**


	23. Sex talk

_**Next chapter! I hope you all like it...**_

_**First thank you to all who have reviewed so far, I really appreciate it and I hope you will continue to tell me what you think...**_

_**I've got two more chapters devoted to the holiday coming up and after that it's back tothe harsh reality of a post war world**_

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**23. Sex talk.**

10th of June 1998 - Thursday

I pulled on the scanty bikini, mom and dad were away for the whole day so I felt free to wear something more sexy. I quickly covered myself with a long summer dress when I heard Harry enter the room. This bikini had been a surprise for him and I didn't want it spoiled just yet.

"I packed the sunscreen and your book, do you want to take something else?" Harry asked as he dropped my bag on the bed.

"No, I have my wand here, so I'm ready to go."

We were already late, Angelina would arrive around eleven and it was already eleven. We had promised to meet the others by the pool fifteen minutes before but after breakfast we got a bit distracted. We always get a bit distracted when we needed to change our clothes.

"George will have our skin." I muttered as we walked out.

"Nah, I'll hex him if he's going to be difficult."

"I'd rather you let the hexing of my brother to me." I stated.

"Oh, why?" Harry said, taken aback a bit.

"Because I enjoy it too much. Once I'm seventeen he'll get back what he gave, every single bit."

Harry laughed loudly. "I love to see that."

We reached the pool at the same time a house-elf led Angelina to us. The boys said their hello's, and the chat got to Quidditch within seconds. Hermione shrugged and pulled a book out of her bag. I ordered something to snack on and drinks for everybody and settled myself comfortable on one of the beds.

When I removed my summer dress I heard someone gasp.

"Oh, Ginny that bikini really looks good on you." Hermione said happily. I had to agree with her, based on Harry's reaction the bikini was really something.

"Wow, Ginny, when did you get so grown-up." Angelina whispered.

"Taking a shopping trip with Hermione does do miracles." I giggled.

Harry was still staring at me, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide.

"You like?" I ask.

He just nodded, only returning to the present when Ron tapped him on the back of his head. "Oi, stop gaping at my sister!"

We all broke out in a roar of laughter, Harry's face was priceless.

It took awhile for Harry to join the conversation again but soon everybody settled for a fun day at the pool.

Angelina, already sitting next to George was happily laughing with him and George was looking more and more like his old outgoing self. I decided not to read and watch my brother for a while, I was sure that would be something entertaining.

It was actually more educating than entertaining. George was a master in not showing his emotions, or in this case, not showing that he really liked her. But I could see it, I saw it in the way he was looking at her, reacting to her. I wondered why he played down his feelings, because I was dead sure that Angelina felt the same, maybe he didn't see that.

"Thanks Hermione, Ginny, for inviting me." Angelina suddenly said. "I was getting very frustrated by my parents and Grandma. We have only been here for two days and I was already bored."

"Do you have anything planned for your stay here?" I asked.

"No, not really, mom and dad didn't want to plan to much, with my grandma and all, so it's mostly strutting down the village and lazing at the pool, watching muggles being silly."

"You aren't going to do anything fun?" George asked in shock. Angelina sadly shook her head.

"All the things I wanted to do are too active, grandma wouldn't be able to go with us or keep up."

"What did you wanted to do?" George asked.

"Well, my mom learned me how to surf when I was little and I really love it, coming to the surfers paradise I had hoped to catch a few waves but we're on the wrong side of the island. Also I'd like to see the volcano's and the caves."

"The caves we have done the first full day we were here, but if you want to I can go with you. And you can come with us to the volcano and surfing. I'm going to learn how to surf." George told her. He sounded in a hurry to tell everything, his eyes were already lit with excitement.

"I'll have to ask mom, I don't think they will like it much if I'm away all the time." Angelina said thoughtful.

It was silent for a second, Angelina looked like she was trying to lift the thoughts out of George's head, her eyes almost penetrating his skull. Suddenly she gasped.

"George, what happened to you?" She said as she pointed to the hole where his ear used to be.

"Oh, that is nothing, I had a run in with a Death Eater when we moved Harry away from his house last summer. I took the curse for the greater cause."

Angelina gaped at him, her eyes wide with shock.

"It was nothing." George said to her again.

On cue the drinks and snacks were brought by an elf breaking the tension between Angelina and George. We all could see that Angelina wasn't buying the nothing for an explanation. I looked at Harry to see what his reaction was but he just shrugged and took some food.

"So, what have all been up to before yesterday?" Angelina asked after a few minutes.

We all jumped to tell stories, about the trails mostly but also about our shopping trip in London and about the shop. Even Angelina had some big news.

"Oh my god, I just remembered. George did you know that Lee got a job offer?"

"Really where?"

"At the wizarding Wireless network. They heard you guys last year with the 'Potter watch' and thought he was brilliant, they want him for some comedic radio show who covers serious topics."

"That's great, when did you speak to Lee?"

"Two weeks ago, I ran into him when I was doing some shopping in Diagon Alley."

"And you couldn't visit me?" George asked shocked.

"The shop was closed, I knocked on the door but nobody answered so I figured you weren't there."

I think it was clear to say that this conversation would be between the two of them for a long time, we just couldn't get their attention for long. I sighed and turned on my stomach, already enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin.

"Harry, could you please do my back with sunscreen?" I asked lazily.

"Of course." I heard him say softly. With in seconds his hands were rubbing my shoulders and my back. As much as I hated it, I was relieved Harry kept it chaste this time. I really didn't want Angelina to witness the sexual tension between us. It was high and already begging for it to be released.

"What are you reading?" I asked Hermione. She was laying next to me, her nose in a large book, that looked like it was made by muggles. She turned her book to me so that I could see, the outside said it was written by a guy named Shakespeare but when she turned the inside towards me I saw she had bewitched the book. The inside held pictures, spells and stories.

"What's it about?" I whispered.

She handed the book over to me.

"Read page one, the title explains everything." She whispered.

I turned to page one, it was blank except for a small line of words, '_Love, lust and what ever else you feel. A magical guide for wizards and witches_'. I looked up at Hermione, my face must have been funny because she giggled.

"Where did you get that?" I whispered.

"Mail order."

I looked back to the book and turned the page to where the index was found. The chapters colored in red were for witches and the blue for wizards. One of the last chapters for witches was named '_the pleasure of different positions'_. It kind of raised a flag in my head. I quickly opened the book on page 380. For a second I was stunned, the images and moving pictures were quite graphic, so much so that it made me blush a bit.

My mouth open like a fish I turned to Hermione, she was blushing even harder, her face discreetly turned away from the men.

"You read this?" I asked stunned. She blushed even harder and nodded. I looked back to the pictures, flipping through a few pages of that particular chapter.

"Can I read this, when you have finished?" I asked, this book was perfect for night time fun and exercises.

Hermione looked at me in shock. "You want to read it?" she breathed.

"I think it will be very inspirational." I hinted.

Hermione kept on looking at me like I was speaking Chinese or something. I just smiled and shook my head, maybe it was just me but Hermione seemed to be on a different pages in that particular area than me. Or maybe I was just really perverted. Anyway I didn't mind it very much, that book Hermione was reading contained a lot of good ideas and I already saw one I wanted to try later tonight.

Fantasizing about nightly events was never a good thing when you were in public, for it heated me up rather quickly. Deciding that this time the sun was also to blame I got up and went for a swim. Hermione followed me, while George and Angelina where playing a good game of chess and Ron and Harry had a major discussion about the different types of food. In other words we weren't missed.

Hermione and I swam toward the underwater beds, they were platforms on which people could lay half submerged, they also gave good massages. Soon we both were laying fully surrounded by bubbles.

"George and Angelina look really cute together, I hope we are right about them." Hermione said as we watched them from a distance.

"I think we are right about them, I just don't think George will confess it any time soon."

Hermione nodded and stared in front of her, her face looked troubled.

"Hermione, is something wrong?" I asked

"No." she replied too quickly.

"Really?" My voice thick with sarcasm. "I thought I know you better than that."

Hermione sighed and leaned with her back against the bubble blowing wall.

"It's just that…" She started but suddenly stopped. "Can I ask you something really personal?"

"Of course." I said after a second of thoughts, wondering what might be bothering her that would have to do with me personally.

"Did you…did you and Harry…have…" she stuttered and blushed bright red.

"Did Harry and I what?"

"You know, did you guys do _it_?"

It took a second for the light bulb to lit up but I got there eventually.

"You talk about sex?" I whispered.

Hermione nodded. That indeed was a very personal question. I wondered if I should refuse to answer, but a voice inside my head whispered that Hermione wouldn't ask these things if she didn't have a good reason.

So I nodded to her, a red blush spreading across my face. Hermione looked at me in silence her face still troubled.

"Harry loves you very much." She muttered. I couldn't even imagine where that comment came from.

"What has that to do with the previous question? Hermione what is going on?"

"Ron, of course." She muttered angrily.

"What has he done now?" I sighed. They had their disagreements and sometimes Hermione was shouting at him but it was clear they loved each other. Hermione wiped her head around looking at my with teary eyes.

"I'm not sure if he loves me like Harry loves you." She whispered.

"What? Ron adores you. You know that, he has been since he noticed you're a girl."

"Then why doesn't he even want to touch me, besides kissing? He doesn't even want to apply sunscreen on my back." She wailed softly.

Suddenly I understood, I looked over at my brother, who was still fiercely in discussion with Harry. There was a clear difference between the two of them, Ron looked like boy compared to the way Harry held himself. From this point it was very clear that Ron wasn't growing up as quickly as Harry. Although I was sure Ron had gone through the same horrors as Harry last year, it hadn't made him an adult, more something in between.

"Hermione, I don't think it has something to do with you, or with Ron's feelings for you." I stated slowly.

"Sure not." She muttered.

"Hermione look at him." I said angrily. "He isn't there yet. He doesn't think or behave like a hormone driven adolescence yet."

Hermione looked over at the boys just in time to see Ron make a complete fool of himself. We both giggled as we saw Ron waving his wand and instead of refilling his glass, the orange juice spilled all over him.

"Hermione, I'm not sure if saying, '_just give it time_' is the right thing to say, but I think it's the right thing to do…or…" suddenly a thought popped in my head, remembering how Harry had liked it when I took control during our little games.

"Or, what?"

"Or you could make him in a hormone driven teenager." I said grinning widely.

"What do you mean?"

"Hermione, did you bring that white negligee with you, including the white string?"

"Yes." She hissed.

"Have you worn it already?"

"No! of course not."

"You should tonight. I'm pretty sure Ron will like his surprise." I smiled. "Oh and make sure he is already in bed when you walk out into the room."

Hermione gaped at me, her eyes blinking furiously.

"You think that works?"

"If he doesn't faint."

"Did it work for Harry." She asked slyly, not being nosy just teasing.

I on the other hand decided to take her question seriously and answered flat out.

"I didn't need it but he sure was looking very intoxicated when I wore one of them."

"Ginny!" she shouted, covering her ears and shuddering due to the unwanted images. I broke out in a roar of laughter and Hermione quickly followed.

After a few minutes the boys joined us in the swimming pool and any type of conversation had to be stopped. We played and swam for a while, fooling and joking around, missing lunch completely. It was good to have some fun with the four of us.

When we got tired of the water we headed back to Angelina and George, who were talking softly to each other about good school memories. We didn't join in as they looked wrapped up in a small cocoon.

It wasn't long before I fell asleep. I wasn't sure why I was so tired and sleeping so much, but I had come to the conclusion that a lack of sleep during the whole of last year was to blame, and of course my new night time activities.

"Ginny sure sleeps a lot." I heard a voice far away, not completely sure if I was awake or dreaming.

"Yeah, I could use some as well." I heard Harry yawn.

"You guys go to your hotel room right after dinner and won't show up until late breakfast, you get sleep plenty." The first voice was Ron.

"Uhm, Ron, it's not exactly like we spend all our time sleeping." Harry chuckled.

"What's there else to do. The rooms are beautiful and everything but there is nothing to do."

"Oh, there is enough fun to have."

It was silent for a second.

"Jeez Ron! Do I have to spell it out for you." I heard Harry saying, he sounded like he was sighing.

"What?" Ron said still being stupid. I almost giggled as listened to my brother being stupid. I was sure I was awake now, and I wondered where Hermione was because they wouldn't have this conversation with her around.

I heard Harry sigh and footsteps next to me. I heard somebody ruffling through the bag next to me, Hermione's bag.

"This Ron." Harry said as I heard something heavy fall on one of the beds. I risked a peek through my lashes, I got too curious, I had to know what Harry used to get Ron on the right track. To my shock I saw Hermione's book laying open in front of Ron and Harry pointing to a page.

I briefly wondered how Harry knew, but was distracted by Ron's sputtering. I quickly closed my eyes again and tried not to laugh.

"No way." I heard Ron saying.

"What no way?"

"You and Ginny…"

"Why not, what else would you expect Ron. I hope you aren't trying to the say that you and Hermione haven't. Although I don't need the image of that in my mind."

it was silent for a long time, I almost dozed off again when Ron spoke again.

"So, you mean you and Ginny have…" he whispered, sounding very shocked. I wondered if Harry would be as open with Ron as I had been with Hermione.

"Yes, Ron, Ginny and I have, yes."

"Why?" Ron asked in a high pitched voice.

"Because we love each other, because every time I look at her in that scanty sexy-as-hell bikini I want to have it with her, because it is the most addicting thing in the world." Harry sounded like he was close to loosing his patience with Ron. I couldn't help but smile when I heard Harry speak of sex like that, it was very satisfying to know that we both had the same feelings about it.

"I love Hermione." Ron whispered.

"I know."

"Hermione says she loves me. Do you reckon she want to…"

"Do more than snogging, yes."

"Than why hasn't she said so." Ron asked, his voice sounded more and more shocked.

"Well, because it's not really Hermione's thing to walk up and say '_lets have some play time, in bed, naked_'. I'm sure she probably has been trying to get it to your attention."

"I don't know, I don't even know how she would be trying too." Ron said thoughtfully. "What do girls do to get a guys attention in those situation?"

"How should I know!" Harry almost scream, clearly frustrated with his best friend. I had to work very hard not to laugh, I wondered if it was better to turn but I was afraid the boys would stop.

"Well, you already have…"

"For Ginny and me it was a mutual thing, we both couldn't wait to get away from your mothers all seeing eyes. But we talk, Ron, we talk about things that are bothering us. I can see it in her eyes when something is up and she has some kind of sixth sense when it comes to me."

"Hermione has been looking a bit sad last night…"

"I wonder why." Harry said glumly.

"and she had been wearing this beautiful short lace see-through nightgown."

"And you didn't take the hint. Jeez, Ron, what does she has to do before you catch on, asking you to have sex with her." Harry was snickering at this point. I was sure Ron's face was something to see, it was probably red, wide eyes and looking immensely shocked.

"I wouldn't know what to do." Ron whispered.

"Why did you think I gave you those magazines, not to look at the pictures."

"I didn't have much time to read those." Ron said desperate. "Harry what should I do, she's probably angry with me for being a jerk and insensitive?"

"Well pay more attention next time. And if you don't know what she likes just ask her. Have fun and don't worry so much."

Through my lashes I could see Ron nodded and laying down back on the bed. I closed my eyes again pretending to be asleep. I heard footsteps again next to me, Harry was returning Hermione's book. Suddenly I felt his hand on my back.

"I hope you are going to read that book very soon, you little eavesdropper." He whispered playfully in my ear. How he had known I was awake was a mystery to me, perhaps he knew me better than I thought. I turned my head slowly, pretending Harry to be waking me up, I saw Hermione was shaking softly as well. She had been awake too. I wondered what she made of the guys conversation.

Any kind of peace was quickly gone when George and Angelina returned. Both looking extremely happy and a bit flushed.

"Where have you been?" Ron asked.

"I showed Angelina around, and the ridiculous luxurious bedrooms Harry got us."

Sure I wasn't going to believe that, that was the only thing they had done. One look at Harry's face told me he wasn't buying it either.

"Yeah, Harry those rooms are amazing. This whole hotel is amazing actually. I wish my mom and dad had chosen this hotel."

"You can come and hang out with us as much as your parent let you." Harry shrugged. It would be good for George to have somebody to hang around with, that way non of us would feel guilty if we wanted to spend time as couples.

"Thanks Harry, hey is it true that you all will go back to Hogwarts to finish school?"

"Yes." Harry nodded.

"Wow, I never thought you would go back, not after all that has happened there. Besides I expected you to head straight for the aurors office."

"I wanted to do that, at first, but Ginny wants a year of peace and quiet and I can't help but agree."

"And I still have one year to go anyway." I shrugged.

"I'm sure there will be special arrangements for you Harry."

"Yes, I'm starting my auror training as well in September, I'm only staying at Hogwarts for Ginny, and my friends, and maybe to scrape up some NEWTS for a few classes."

"What about you Hermione, also going back for a year of rest or to work even harder?"

"Both, it will be nice to have the comforts of the castle but I want to get into the ministry so I have to do some work."

The conversation quickly turned to Angelina's ambition to either become a professional Quidditch player or to work in the department of magical games and sports at the ministry. Her ideas of her future sparked something in me as well, suddenly I found myself dreaming about a career as chaser.

I could imagine everything very clearly, living in Godric's Hollow, every day apparating to the trainings pitch, coming home to either do some cooking or waiting for Harry to return. Winning matches, celebrating with a team and after that with Harry.

Angelina had already done a few try-outs and was waiting for an acceptance or rejection. I was sure she would get in a team, she had been one of the best chasers we had.

"Ginny, I'm very sure you can try-out as well. I heard you were very good." Angelina said breaking through my daydreams.

"Yeah, Ginny you would do great." Hermione said.

I blushed a bit while everybody was watching me.

"Maybe, I still have to finish school, maybe I can play Quidditch next school year and we will see."

"I'm very sure McGonagall is going to make you captain." Harry said thoughtfully.

"What, no way, I have missed to much last year, I probably need the time to study."

"I think Harry is right." Angelina said. "With Harry there to advise you and the Weasley blood running through your veins you'd be the best captain Gryffindor has ever had."

They all nodded, expect for Angelina, she suddenly was staring off in the distance.

"Ange, what are you thinking?" George asked. Her head snapped toward me and Harry.

"Oh my god, did you guys realize that when you two have a kid it will be the ultimate Quidditch player." She almost shouted. "Think of it, Harry even your father was a brilliant Quidditch player and good captain, just like you, and you, Ginny, you are brilliant and have a family of very good Quidditch players. To mix that, it would make the best Quidditch player in the world."

Harry and I looked at each other not knowing of to break down in laughter or blush furiously. We got stuck on the first one. Laughing so hard my sides hurt I looked up at Angelina, blinking the tears away.

"Ange, if we ever have a child we'll put it on a broomstick right away." I giggled.

"Did you know, I was one when I got my first broomstick, it was a gift from Sirius for my first birthday." Harry told us. We were all gaping at him.

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked.

"I found a picture in the Black house, my mom made it and wrote a letter with it to Sirius." Harry told us.

Later that night I found myself daydreaming on the balcony of our hotel room. Staring into nothingness I thought about Angelina's words, trying out for a Quidditch team, playing professional Quidditch seemed like a dream. A dream that I wasn't sure I could make come true.

Angelina's other remark got stuck in my mind as well, having children with Harry. Now that was something to think about. Sure I really enjoyed the process of making a baby, but to carry it, to raise it and to love it was something completely else. Not to mention that it wouldn't go well with a career as a professional Quidditch player.

"Do you want something to drink?" Harry asked, breaking through my daydream. He was holding up to bottles, one with wine the other with butterbeer.

"Wine, please." I nodded.

He waved his wand, slowly he filled two glasses with wine. His eyes never left me, staring intensely at me, the love he felt for me was shining bright in the deep green.

"What were you thinking about?" He asked softly.

"About what Angelina said, about the Quidditch try-outs. Do you think I could do that?"

"Ginny you can do anything you want, but in this particular field I'm sure you will be signed by the first team you try-out for. You have great skill as a chaser, but we both know you will do really good as seeker as well."

"Really?"

"Would I lie to you." Harry smiled at me. "If you want to play Quidditch, you go do that, I'll be there as many games as I can."

I took a glass of wine from him, and kissed him softly.

"Thank you." I whispered.

Harry wrapped his arms around me, both staring out over the sea. Slowly sipping the wine and enjoying the moment. I felt strangely relieved, like some weight has been lifted of my shoulders.

"A big feeling, isn't it? Knowing what you want to do with your life." He whispered.

"Yes." I nodded, "but also very soothing. Like the pieces are falling in place."

We stood there for a long time, watching the sun setting on the horizon. I really enjoyed this part of life. I knew deep down that we had to get back to reality soon but I could stay happily in this bubble forever.

"Harry, what do you think life will be like after school?"

"Good, or at least I'm going to make sure we have a good life. We both have been trough enough trouble, pain and horrors in our short life, lets make the rest happy."

"If you are going to work as an auror, there always will be trouble."

"No, that's not why I'm going to join. I'm going to join them to learn how to defend us against those who make trouble, to make sure that our kids never have to face what we have been through."

I turned in his arms to look at him.

"So, you do want kids?" I asked.

"Some day, after we had fun first."

"Fun with practicing making them." I murmured already lost in the green burning passion of his eyes. Harry caught on quickly and took the glass from my hand. Placing both mine and his on the table while leaning in to kiss.

"I still don't understand how you can make something so serious into so sexy." He whispered as he pulled me even closer to him. Kissing deeply we stumbled towards the bed. Against everything I had thought about after seeing that damn book of Hermione, we made slow love.

Worshipping each other with kisses, touches and stares.

Harry slowly undressed me, summer dress first, slowly kissing my stomach as he raised the dress over my head. I tucked on his shirt silently ordering him to take it off. He complied to my wishes quickly.

As I let my fingers trace his muscles, he worked to release the top of my bikini.

"Have I told you that I like this bikini." He murmured.

"No, but I could tell." I giggled.

"Don't ever wear it when your parents are around. I think they would be able to see how sexy I think you look in this white piece."

"I'll keep it for special days than."

"Good." He whispered as his lips were still brushing the skin of my stomach.

We got naked in a very short time, constantly touching each other but never the places that gave us the greatest pleasure. It was slow and lovely.

All the soft touches brought me to a point when I could feel everything on my skin, from his fingers to the air that he was breathing over my skin. And it made me dripping wet.

When he finally decided to moved his hands downwards, Harry played with me for a long time, his fingers brushing all the right places. Two or three times he brought me so close to the edge that I would beg him to finish it but he always pulled his fingers back.

Breathless and completely dazed from my third almost release, he moved in front of me, kneeling between my legs, his hands still playing with me. Our eyes making contact when he leaned forward, his hands moving along my side, brushing my breast before nestling in my hair.

I expected him to kiss me but instead his lips moved to my ear, kissing my neck and jaw line along the way.

"God, I want you so much." He whispered. His voice along brought me to a frenzy, deep, smooth and sexy. It made me moan softly. "Do you want it too?" he asked, cheatingly pinching my nipple.

"Yes!" I couldn't help but scream. "Yes, please Harry."

His cock was rubbing between my legs, every time he moved he hit my clit but he didn't enter. I moved my hips to capture him, to make him enter, but he noticed and moved with me. I groaned in frustration.

"Tell me what you want, than?" he whispered in my ear. It took me a bit by surprise but I liked the idea of talking dirty, it made me even more wet.

"I want you, Harry, please I want you now."

Apparently that wasn't enough for him, he pushed in once, making me scream, and pulled right back out only to start teasing me again.

"please, please." I moaned, writhing beneath him, trying to create some sort of friction.

"Tell me how?" he whispered again. _Oh good lord!_

"Please just take me." I begged.

He slid in me again, slowly, too slowly, before he pulled out again.

"Like this? or…"

He slammed in me hard, deep and rough, pushing every right button there was to push, making me scream loudly.

"like this?" he asked and stopped moving all together.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I whimpered.

His lips still at my ear, he whispered, "You heard me earlier today, we talk about these things, I told your brother so, so I better start doing it." He was getting back at me for eavesdropping on him and Ron for the second time, I heard his cheating laughter in his voice and that sold it for me, I was going to get him back for teasing me like this, he wanted to talk so we would talk.

"Harry…" I said trying to sound seductive. "I want you, hard, deep and dirty."

His breath hitched, a soft groan escaped his lips, and it worked. He raised himself on his hands and looked at me, his eyes burning, dark with need. His hips moved first slowly, pulling backwards before his hardness slammed back into me. For a second I forgot all about the talking part and went for screaming his name.

Harry slowly increased his pace, driving into my warmth faster and harder with every move. After a few minutes I got enough of myself back to remember the talking part.

"God!" I screamed, "Harry you feel so good in me."

I don't know where that came from but I liked it, the last bit of shyness I had with Harry was released. My guess was that Harry liked it as well because he groaned loudly.

When he hit my clit again the floodgates opened.

"Oh, that felt so good. Deeper please… Harder… Oh my…Harry, please…"

His cock twitched inside me.

"Harry, Christ! I'm almost…" My words got lost in my release, as my warmth wrapped itself more tightly around his hardness. Heat and waves of pleasure spread through my body while Harry continued to work his sexual magic.

"Tell me, Harry, talk to me." I screamed still riding high in the waves of pleasure.

Harry wasn't up for good coherent lines.

"So tight…so wet…Ginny…so good…" he breathed every time he moved, making my bliss only more intense.

With a final groan of my name Harry let go, just in time to join me as I was flowing with the last waves of pleasure that rocked my body. We both collapsed totally spend, trying to remember to breath properly.

After a while I felt Harry shake a little bit, like he was laughing.

"What?"

He raised himself onto his elbows and kissed me softly, a giddy laze smile set on his face.

"I thought I was getting back at you for eavesdropping, but you feisty little redhead just turned it right back onto me." He chuckled.

"Feisty little redhead, uh?"

"Yes, you have quite a temper and it came out to play. I liked it."

I grabbed his arms and pushed him over, not a easy task, but because I had the element of surprised it worked. I climbed on top of him and grabbed his wrists, raising his arms above his head.

"If I had a temper, Mr. Potter, you would have serious problems."

"Really?" his voice thick with disbelieve.

"Yes, because if I had a temper, you would find yourself with your wrist magically bound above your head and me tickling you until you scream for mercy."

To put more force behind my thread I let me tongue brush his soft spot on his ribs. It had him squirming under me. I did the same thing at the other side only long enough for him to actually protest. Of course I didn't have strength enough to hold him down and soon he had his arms around me and pulling me off him.

"Shall we see who will be begging, because you have already done that a lot, so it should be easy."

With in seconds he had me breathless and begging for mercy, his fingers playing all over my ribs.

"Stop, Stop!" I screamed.

"You didn't say the magic word."

"Stop, please!"

He finally did, pulling me back into his arms and laying back down on the bed. I was completely breathless and it took me a while to get my breathing back in order, it wasn't very helpful that every time I tried to take a deep breath Harry kissed me.

We lay on the bed for a while in silence, just enjoying the bliss of the moment. I had almost dozed off when I remember the reason for all laughs and chuckles.

"Do you think Ron got the hint?" I asked knowing Harry would catch on.

"I hope for Hermione he did."

"Yeah, she was really depressed about it."

"You two talked about it?" Harry asked surprised.

"Yes. When we went for a swim. Hermione looked really depressed and I asked what was wrong."

"You two are such evil." Harry chuckled. "eavesdropping on us but when you discus anything interesting you two just disappear."

"Yeah, well, maybe you guys should check your surroundings first before talking about intimate things." I giggled.

"I just can't believe Ron is being so stupid about it, I thought he was on the same page. What did Hermione say?"

"She was wondering if Ron really did love her in the same way you love me. I think she wondered if Ron saw her as something more than a good friend or sister. Apparently Ron didn't make any movement towards her, sexually I mean."

"What did you tell her."

"Do you really want to know? You might want to obliviate yourself afterwards."

"Just tell me."

"Okay…, you know the lingerie we bought on our shopping trip."

"yeah, I actually like what you bought." He was surprised at the direction I was going.

"Well, you haven't even seen the good sets yet. And the same goes for Hermione's selections, Ron hasn't even seen the scanty things she bought, so I told her to get on her white set." I really was trying to save Harry from these images of his best friend.

Harry was silent for a second, thinking deeply, every few seconds his eyes would move from me to my closet.

"Poor Ron." He finally said. "the poor bloke doesn't stand a chance."

I laughed at his conclusion. "That was the idea, you know."

"Yes, but if Hermione's… wait up, what haven't I seen yet?"

I laughed, I couldn't help it but his expression was so funny. It was torn between shock, anticipation and pure excitement.

"Let's just say that the blue set was the most conservative one of my selection."

"Really?" His eyes went all wide, and I decided to nod and look as innocent as possible.

"You are going to wear it during this holiday, right?"

"Well, I have brought some of them, the rest I think I keep a surprise until Christmas, or your birthday." I giggled.

"Yeah, I like these ideas for surprises, I think."

"Well, lets get some sleep, you can dream about the possibilities." I yawned.

Harry nodded and pulled the blankets over us, he waved his wand to get the lights out.

"As long as I don't dream of Ron and Hermione, I got enough bad images for the rest of my life today." He murmured.

"Just think about me in dark red something special, it will help."

I wiggled myself closer against him.

"Harry, how did you know about the book, and that I was awake?"

"Ginny, I know you better than you think. I saw Hermione handing you the book, and you blushed, you only blush when it comes to sex, so I had a very clear idea of what was written in the book, besides that it was just a luck guess that it was a book like that, with pictures."

He paused to kiss my hair softly.

"And for how I knew you were awake, you didn't hide your laughter really well, I was sitting almost next to you, I heard you giggle. And your face wasn't as relaxed as it is when you sleep. You betrayed yourself."

"Did you know that Hermione was awake?"

"No! was she?"

"Yeah, I saw her shaking with laughter as well."

"Hmm, now at least she knows it isn't anything to do with her but with her boyfriend who doesn't seem to grow-up." Harry yawned.

"Lets sleep, we'll probably see tomorrow." I said and closed my eyes.

I fell asleep really fast, dreaming about Quidditch, try-out and scanty lingerie.

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**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	24. New Fears

_**Thank you, thank you, thank you! I really love all your reviews... although they can be a bit confusing, the one likes the lemons, the other thinks they are to shallow...I'm trying to find a good midway in what you all want, but it's still Ginny's story...she's whispering in my ear and if she wants lemons she gets lemons...**_

_**Okay, this Chapter is a bit of a in between chapter, I'm filling a few holes I left and I'm preparing for the next few chapters...I really hope you will enjoy it...**_

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**_24. New fears._**

_16__th__ of June 1998. Wednesday_

The vacation went by really fast. Between the fun we had with the family and the fun I had with Harry, I couldn't believe it was almost over. Today we would go back home, I was sitting on the bed packing my clothes lazily with my wand. Harry was taking care of the paperwork so I was along in the room, I just couldn't help to think back about everything that happened.

It wasn't all fun and freedom, small reminder of what was waiting for us at home kept us all on an edge. The first bad news came the day that we would go surfing, or at least the boys would learn how to surf from Mrs. Johnson and Angelina.

_- 13__th__ of June – Sunday - _

"Harry! Get out of bed! Ginny! Wake up!" I heard somebody call. There was a loud bang on the door. "Open the door or I'll open it!" That was clearly Hermione's voice.

I felt Harry move next to me, he was getting out of bed quickly.

"One second, Hermione!" he called. When I saw he was naked I realized I wasn't wearing anything either. Quickly I scrambled for my nightgown. When I was dressed Harry opened the door.

"Christ! Harry, how many charms do you need to get some privacy." Hermione said angrily, her eyes wild and her hair tangled.

"How did you get through them?" Harry asked surprised.

"Oh, it wasn't easy, but never mind have a look at this." Hermione said as she stepped in. pushing a copy of the daily prophet in Harry's hands.

"Good morning, Hermione." I said trying to calm her down a bit. Maybe it would have worked if Harry hadn't spitted out a long line of swear words.

"That's what I thought." Hermione said angrily.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm going to talk to Kingsley." Harry muttered and turned toward the fire place in the corner of the room. He had thrown the paper on the bed. I picked it up to see what got Harry so angry. A large picture of Fenrir Greyback covered the page, the headline above said,

'_**Werewolves come to aid their leader**_!'

I scanned the pages for the relating article, which I found immediately below the picture.

'_The wizarding community has once again been shock by an act of violence. Yesterday morning in the early hours before sunrise the ministry planned to move the werewolf Greyback to the wizarding prison Azkaban after being locked down in a cell inside the ministry for the last few weeks. Greyback, suspected Death Eater, had been captured earlier this summer after an alleged attack on two aurors who were guarding something unknown until this day. The move of the werewolf to the high security prison was necessary because the ministry cells needed to be empty for the upcoming trails of Death Eaters. _

_According to a spokesman of the ministry information about the move was leaked to members of the werewolf community, who desperately wanted their leader back. The moment Greyback left the safe zone of the ministry with two aurors, a group of ten werewolves, in human form at that moment, attacked the aurors and gave Greyback a chance to run. The two auror were both killed in the attack, but to make things even worse, Greybacks first act as an on-the-run werewolf was to attack two muggle children, who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time._

_Ministry officials and aurors are searching frantically for the fugitive, but there is still no word of a re-capture of the werewolf. The minister for Magic says in an official letter that an inquiry to the leak shall be made and the person responsible will be severely punished. For more information on the escape see page 4._'

"No!" I gasped. I turned around to Harry but he was already with his head in the fire place talking to Kingsley. Hermione was standing next to me shaking in fury.

"Urgh, I hope they catch the leak very quickly." She bristled.

Greyback was on the loose again. I groaned internally, why hadn't anyone just killed him? I think I could by now. He had done so much damage, specially to young families, if anyone deserved to die it was him. I didn't think lightly about death, not after I saw Harry giving even Voldemort a chance to show remorse but this had to be the one case I could definitely agree with a death sentence.

Hermione and I both watched Harry as he continued to talk to Kingsley. All I was able to hear were muffled sounded, and occasionally a swear word. For a short while I wondered why Harry was able to use the fire place, it was supposed to be secured.

After about five minutes Harry pulled back out of the fire place. I stepped towards him when I saw his head hang in defeat.

"What is it?" I whispered. Harry looked up at me with pained eyes, something was bothering him deeply.

"It looks like the battle for becoming the next great dark wizard has started, and the werewolves are the first to bid for that place, with Greyback as their leader. Those attacks in the Prophet aren't even the tip of the iceberg. Kingsley says they are suspecting them to be the cause of at least three more deaths. Maybe even more." His voice sounded dead.

"Who?" Hermione whispered.

"Two ministry workers who were singed on to make a werewolf inventory. The ministry wanted to see how many of them there are after Riddle gave them free hunting grounds. And a muggle woman who was attacked in a forest last week, she died in St. Mungo's."

We stood there for a while just staring into nothingness. I got so wrapped up in my thought that I didn't even noticed Hermione leaving. My mind was stuck on the fact that just a month or so after the greatest dark wizard in history had been defeated we were back at square one. Back to the fear, the attacks and the anger.

The idea of Greyback being next great dark wizard was some what laughable. Yes, he was a wizard, and yes, he could do great harm, fact was, as far as I knew, he would always be ruled by his animalistic instinct and therefore he could never fully give himself over to the feeling of magic. Not like Lupin had, he had hold on to his humanity and that allowed him to keep control over his magic. What terrified me the most was that the werewolf community was supposed to be large, maybe even larger than we knew. If they rallied together, they could be a serious threat.

It had been the first hint of trouble back home. I couldn't deny that I wasn't worried but Kingsley had told Harry to stay on his holiday and that he would work as hard as possible to recapture the werewolf. After Harry comforted me and told me repeatedly that everything was going to be alright I relaxed a bit and we headed out for our day of fun at the beach.

Angelina's parents would pick us up at the dirt road that lead to the hotel around ten. So we took our time to eat breakfast. Dad and Harry did talk a little bit about the news, Hermione had shown him the news paper as well. Like Harry he wasn't too worried.

"Kingsley will handle it. And if not we will be back home in a few days time, we can go see if they need help then." He said.

Mom wasn't happy either, having already one son mangled by Greyback, she wasn't too pleased with the boys idea of wolf hunting.

Soon the excitement about going to a muggle beach and watch George getting surf lessons drove the fear to the back of my mind and I was able to really enjoy the day. We all walked the short way to where Angelina and her parents were waiting for us. After a short greeting session we were on our way to the north-western side of the island. According to Angelina there were the best surfing beaches in Europe.

I stared out the window at the beautiful sunny country site, I couldn't believe we were here for a week and a half already. Only three days left before we would go home, I really didn't want to go home. It felt like a dark cloud that was hanging over my head. it was some feeling I couldn't yet identify but it bugged me big time.

"Hermione, can you surf?" Mr. Johnson asked.

"No, I've never done it. I'm not really a sports type of girl." Hermione answered politely. Mrs Johnson smiled at her while she took a good look.

"Hmm, no I can see that, you don't really have the build of an athlete. Did you do any sport when you lived with your muggle parents?" Mrs. Johnson asked friendly.

"Not really, we did go skiing every winter since I was five but I really don't like it. I always fell and hurt myself."

"Skiing? Really? That's something I still have to do, I prefer the summer and beach activities." Mrs. Johnson said just before her husband stopped the car.

"We are here!" he said loudly.

We all got out and stretched our legs, it had looked like a short ride but we had been in the car for almost an hour, it felt good to get out. The sea breeze immediately grabbed us, swirling hair and dresses. The sun was making the wind feel warm and the sound of the waves made the picture complete.

"Ooh, look the waves are perfect." Angelina screamed in excitement.

Angelina and her mother made their way to the surfers club, where they could rent boards and suits, followed by George, Ron and Harry, who were all wanting to learn to ride the waves. The rest of us searched for a good spot to lay down and enjoy the show.

I would have joined them but I decided to use the last day I had the chance to really enjoy the sun wisely, tomorrow would be a day out with the family and the last full day would be dedicated to the national park and its volcanoes. So for this day my butt would be firmly on a chair of towel, bathing in the sun.

We found a good place not to far from the water but far enough not to get wet. As we laid our towels down and set up our chairs Mr. Johnson and Dad talked about the news of the escaped werewolf.

"I think it will be busy when I get back to work. With all these attacks." Mr. Johnson said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, same here. Harry has had contact with Kingsley Shacklebolt first thing this morning. They are doing everything they can but he is mostly worried about the leak, according to Harry, Kingsley told him there were only a handful of people who knew about the transfer. So the leak will be found soon. Kingsley said he didn't need our help yet and that we should enjoy the holiday." Dad shrugged, "No reason not to listen to the future minister for magic, I guess."

"Yes, but you'll be called in the moment you set foot on British soil."

"That means you must enjoy the sight of your husband now, Molly. Next week he'll be living at the ministry." Mrs. Johnson called from behind us. We all turned to see the five of them walking towards us. All of them carrying a large board but no suits.

"Where are the suits?" Mr. Johnson asked.

"They laughed at me when I asked." Mrs. Johnson pouted, "Apparently the water is warm enough for normal swim gear. I only made sure they got shoes, you never know with rocks and volcanic islands."

We watched from a distance how the boys were doing in their first surfing lesson. They practiced first on the beach close to the water. Hermione and I giggled a lot, the boys made it look so funny. They had a blast as well, of course with George around, the jokes, pranks and curious accidents happened. It got to a point where Mrs. Johnson had to stop explaining because Angelina, Harry and George were laughing so hard that they couldn't stand up. Ron on the other hand was mostly the target of George and was turning red more often than a muggle traffic light.

"Poor Ron." Hermione muttered.

I snickered.

"You know they tease him because they love him."

"Yeah, Yeah! George explained that thoroughly."

I laughed out loud, making Hermione blush. She and Ron had been a favorite target of George ever since we found out about their first time. It had been after Ron and Harry had their 'talk', from what we figured out Ron had finally spoken up about things to Hermione, they got in a fight, and made it up the sexual way. Specially George found it hilarious that Hermione and Ron couldn't do anything without getting into a fight first, and the jokes were flying around.

We all had joined in, where ever we got the chance to joke about it we did, until Hermione got fed up about it and hexed us all. Somehow non of us had been able to move but ever surface on our body felt itchy and ticklish. It was the worst hex ever! After George explained a thousand times that we did it because we loved them, Hermione lifted the hex.

Things were now much better between Ron and Hermione. It was clear for everybody to see that, that fight was needed and that they both had talk, fought and made up about things that were bothering them.

I never asked Hermione what really happened, but Harry got more out of Ron so I had a very clear idea of what the fight had been all about. Ron had felt intimidated by Hermione's confidence and Hermione hadn't felt really loved by Ron, who on his turn shut down every time Hermione tried. With other words completely silly if they just had talked.

Now, we all could see that they were much happier, I think that the sexual relieve and the feeling of being loved physically healed a lot for Hermione, and according to Harry, Ron learned that he really could be the man for Hermione. Two nights after that Hermione gave me her book, yes, _the book_, saying that she had inspiration enough for now. I hadn't told Harry yet that I had the book, that would be for some time later.

The dry surfing lessons were over and by midday the boys tried their surfing skills in the water. After a hour all three of them managed to stand up for a short while and ride the waves. Even George and Ron, who had never known what surfing was before this vacation enjoyed it greatly.

On our way back to the hotel they were already discussing ways to make surfing more a magical sport. Not that they came up with anything really useful, maybe the cloud surfing was a good idea but Dad pointed out that it would never be made legal.

Harry had been full with bruises from that day, the many times he had crashed on the waves were clearly countable on his skin, I kissed every sore spot until he begged me for release.

The next morning we woke up to an other bad news report. The daily Prophet reported about more werewolves attack. It had been full moon and the whole werewolf community had been on the loose. Payback for Greyback's time in jail. Mostly young children had been attacked, all between the ago of five and eleven. I felt sorry for the children, specially those who had been hoping to go to Hogwarts and would now have to give up hope to ever be a fully recognized wizard. I felt even more sorry for those who didn't made it, quite a few children and adults had died in the attack. It had been a very dark night for the wizarding world.

That day we spend walking through the muggle town, having lunch at a restaurant close to the sea and talking. The whole family discussed the issue with the werewolves. We were all wondering to what we would come home to but nobody had an clear idea of how real the threat really was.

_15__th__ of June – Tuesday._

The last full day of our holiday arrived, the day at the volcanic park. We sat at the breakfast table all waiting and fearing the news Hermione would bring. We ate a proper breakfast because the day would be hard and long with a lot of activity. Dad and Harry were chatting about the upcoming trip when Hermione arrived at the breakfast table with the Prophet under her arms. She looked in distress, somehow, I could see in her eyes that something was up. She gave the prophet to Harry and muttered something in his ear, it was too low for me to hear.

His eyes widened a bit and he opened the prophet quickly.

He spread it out on the table for us to see. A large headline dominated the front page. It was positioned over pictures of Greyback and Harry and it said, "**Greyback claims the spot, will Harry come to the rescue?**"

The text below the pictures said, '_Two days after his escape and many attacks on children later Fenrir Greyback claims the post of the new dark lord. In a letter signed by Greyback to the ministry and the Daily Prophet the werewolves claim that it is time for the wizarding community to start take the werewolves seriously. He also warns for daily attacks as long as alleged Death Eaters are being sentenced or held for trail. In the letter there is also mention of Harry Potter. The werewolf warns him to stay out of their way and says that he would not hesitate to attack or kill the man that killed the only true leader the wizard community has ever had, Lord Voldemort. _

_Nobody knows if we should take this letter seriously, the ministry says we all should be vigilant but should not let this control our lives. A spokesman tells our reporter that the leak within the ministry have been identified and shall be severely punished. Furthermore, the spokesman, tells us that the temporary minister, Mr. Shacklebolt is in constant contact with Mr. Potter about this issue and that they both feel that the werewolves are dangerous and need to be stopped as soon as possible. For more information see page 3.'_

I looked over at Harry and saw that he wasn't really surprised.

"You knew?" I asked. Harry nodded. "Since when?"

"This morning, you were still sleeping while I talked to Kingsley. He told me about the letter and the fact that they identified the leak."

"Is the letter really from Greyback?" Ron asked.

"Yes, as far Kingsley could tell it is."

"It looks like Greyback is making this into a battle between you and him." My Dad said.

"Yeah, Kingsley said so as well."

"What are you going to do?" dad asked.

"Nothing, yet. I don't think we should go off hunting after him just yet. Kingsley thinks it's best that we ignore him for a while, show him that we aren't in for negotiations. He asked the prophet to report only really bad things like attacks on children or muggles but nothing about letters he might send them or about me. In the mean time Kingsley's men are trying to locate Greyback and the werewolves that are with him."

"Yeah, you need information first." George agreed.

"That's not the only thing. You see, if Greyback thinks I'm ignoring his challenge he might make mistakes in his attempt to get to me, we are hoping that he will be more focused on me than on hurting anyone else. I think Greyback is targeting me first because he considers me the only person the wizarding world would rally for. We could take him easier if he makes mistakes in his hurry to get to the top. Besides that there is always the hope that a wizard who wants the spot of the next dark lord is going to do the job for us."

"Hmm, yes. It wasn't good to have Voldemort in control but at least it was stable, we knew who ruled the dark side, now a war between wizards and witches could break out in their quest to take control." Dad said thoughtfully.

"I'd rather you take on the werewolf than an other dark wizards." I muttered.

"It doesn't matter." Harry shrugged. "If everything goes like it should I won't get involved anyway."

That day should have been amazing, the ride through the volcanic park was already beautiful but the three hour walk through the lava fields and up to the crater of one of the dormant volcanoes was something really special. Everything was so beautiful, so raw. We even found the green gemstones, olivine, that were used in the jewellery we had bought.

It would have been an amazing time if it wasn't for the fact that I worried. A lot! I was afraid to go home, afraid that I might loose Harry if things turned ugly, afraid that I would be pulled back into reality roughly, afraid that Harry would have to leave again.

It wasn't really me to worry so much. Normally I'm the first to engage in a more active approach but not now, not when I had a glimpse of how perfect life could be.

I tried my best to enjoy the day and have fun with my family but it kept nagging on me, tomorrow we would go home…to what?

Later that day I had the chance to tell Harry about my worries.

When we got back at the hotel Harry told me he had a surprise for me. He told me to shower and dress for a special evening but didn't want to say what he was planning.

"Just get dressed." He sighed after I asked him a dozen times. I got more curious when I saw the he was dressing himself in white button down shirt and black pants. He looked smart. I selected some beautiful lingerie and the long grey dress I hadn't worn yet. I felt and looked pretty in it.

When I finished tying the strappy heels to my feet a house-elf appeared.

"Everything is ready, sir." It squeaked to Harry.

"Good, you are taking us there?"

"Yes, sir. Just take my hand." The house-elf said and held up his hands for us to grab. I looked at Harry for a second, questioning him with my eyes, but he laughed and shook his head. He took the elf's hand and told me to do the same thing. I felt the elf twitch in my hand, half a second later the air was pulled out of me. When my feet hit a sandy surface I opened my eyes and looked around.

In front of us was a small stone path leading up to a desk terrace that seemed to be floating in the water. Steep cliffs surrounded the beach. I realized that we were in a secluded lagoon, there wasn't a human magical or muggle in sight. The sun was low on the horizon and it looked spectacular.

Harry took my hand and took me to the table.

"Where did you learn to be so romantic?" I whispered as I sat down.

"Don't know." Harry shrugged, "Not from my family, that's for sure. Maybe it's genetic."

"Do you know if your dad was a romantic?" I asked curiously.

"No," Harry shook his head, "but I think he had to be. My mom disliked him for the better part of their school time, somehow he had to make her see that he loved her. I can't imagine he did that with out being a complete romantic."

"That makes sense."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the view and the sound of the waves.

"Do you want some wine?" Harry asked after a while.

"Yes, please."

The glasses in front of us filled themselves and small bits of food appeared on the table. Harry offered me some bread and butter, I took it with a smile, he was being so sweet, the real gentlemen. As I nibbled on the bread my curiosity got the better of me.

"Why did you plan this? don't get me wrong I love it but is there a reason for this special evening?"

"Do I need a special reason to something crazily romantic?" Harry raised his eyebrow.

"No, of course not." I blushed. Harry's hand brushed over my cheek. I looked up at him again to see him smile, there was something sad in his eyes.

"I wanted to spend one more evening just alone with you." Harry whispered. "We just had the most amazing time here and tomorrow we will be back home. Under the prying eyes of your mother but also back into the hectic life of your family, the wizarding world and the ministry. I'm sure that for the next two months, until we go back to Hogwarts, life will be a bit crazy and I don't think I will be around that much, or as much as I want too. I wanted to make sure that we have one more evening in peace before we really start our lives."

I could understand that perfectly. If it was up to me we'd stay here forever, no more drama and horrific stories, just secluded on this island. Of course I knew that, that would never happen but a girl could dream, right?

The house elf served the best food ever and while we ate we talked about the vacation, about our time on the island and about the things we did here. No, not the sex, but the surfing, the caves, the volcanoes, the hotel, the food, the gifts we had bought for the rest of the family and about the fun we had with it all. Just the easy things.

After we finished the house elf returned and cleaned away the table. I expected us to go back to the hotel, but Harry had different plans. The elf disappeared for a second only to return with a radio and a huge stack of pillows and blankets. He made a place for us to sit on the beach and placed a tray with small snacks on a pillow. With a nod he turned around and disappeared again.

"Come." Harry whispered as he pulled me towards the pillows. It was every bit as comfortable as it looked. I lay in Harry's arms while I sipped from the wine.

"You were quiet today." Harry said.

"Hmm."

"Why? You didn't talk much during the hike around the volcano." He asked.

I debated for a second to just lie and be done with it, or to tell the truth and let everything out. Harry always valued the truth, he trusted me with his truth.

"I was thinking about the news and I'm scared." I said silently. I didn't want to admit it and I felt like looser that I did, but I had to trust Harry with my own truth, who ugly it felt to me.

"Why?"

"Because I have now seen how perfect life can be, like this, here with you…and I don't want to loose it. I afraid of what will happen to us when we go back home. I'm afraid that you will go off wolf hunting. I'm afraid you get hurt or worse. I'm afraid of being afraid. I hate being afraid and I'm afraid it will influence me too much that I'm to overpowered by fear that I won't make the right decisions or that I wouldn't be able to defend myself."

Harry stroke my hair and kissed the top of my head. I felt him breath in with his nose pressed in my hair.

"That's a lot to be afraid of." He whispered. I closed my eyes to blink the tears away, trying to stay clam and not to give in to the fear, it had been boiling beneath the surface for so long now, it was there ready to erupt. Harry's lips stayed in my hair, kissing me softly.

"And it isn't really me, or at least I wasn't like that before. That what scares me most." I admitted.

"What do you mean with that?"

"Well, normally, or at least before, I was the strong one, always wanting an active approach, I never feared something so much. I did had the fear of loosing you, or my family, or Hermione, but not like this, not like it's my life on the line." My voice broke a few times and I couldn't help it. "I just don't feel like the Ginny I was a year ago. Much less strong, somehow."

Harry didn't say anything, he was completely silent, his hand was still stroking the end of my hair and my back and his lips were still touching my hair but besides from that he didn't do or say anything. Somehow it was more unnerving than the thoughts of my fears.

Suddenly I got so incredible afraid. It was a different fear than before, one that had been there ever since Dumbledore's funeral. The fear that I would loose him.

I feared that he might realize that I was so different than the girl he fell in love with, that he would see my weakness and that he didn't want someone so weak. It grabbed around my heart and froze me from the inside out.

"Say something." I barely whispered.

"Ginny, there isn't anything I can say." He whispered.

I quivered, the fear was overtaking every cell in my body. I felt like he had realized what a weak person I was. His words had sounded so far away, like he wasn't even really there. I wondered if he would tell me that he would go again, that he couldn't stay, but that this time it was for his own good.

I didn't know where that sudden incredible fear of loosing him came from, but the pain that ripped through me was very similar to the last time he left me. All the promises he had made the last few week were forgotten, as my panic strangled me I couldn't remember the love I had seen in his eyes, or the words he had spoken that had promised me he would be with me forever. All I feared was loosing him and I had lost him too many times this year, I couldn't deal with one more.

A sob got stuck in my throat, a strange strangled sound escaped from my lips.

"Ginny?" Harry asked shocked. He turned me around so he could see my face. When he searched for my eyes I turned away quickly. Tears were already brimming my eyes and threatening to spill. "Ginny, what is wrong?"

I broke down, again, the looser that I was.

"I'm sorry Harry…" I sobbed. "I'm sorry I'm so weak, I just can't help it… I understand if you would…leave…want…someone…stronger…"

"Ginny!" he said shocked and pulled me close to him, wrapping both arms around me. "How could you even think that."

He kissed me a dozen times, hugging me closer every time.

"I'm not leaving you. You are all I live for. Why would you think I would leave you?" his voice sounded panicky.

"Harry, you need somebody strong, somebody who can handle the pressure and the fear that comes with being a part of your life. You need somebody who can pull you through the dark days and not wallow in them with you. You need somebody like I was before, before I saw you death at his feet, not the weak and scared girl I am now." I sobbed.

I now realized what had changed me in this shadow of the girl I was before, as I said the words the realization hit. It was the moment I thought I had lost him forever, the moment I believed him dead. My whole world had crashed down around me, and I thought I had lost it all. But now that I had my dream life, it created such a big fear of loosing it again.

"Ginny, I don't need any of that, all I need is you. You have always been my strong hold and you still are. You have no idea of how much it means to me that you are there when I wake up out of my nightmares, how much it means that you will suffer them with me just so I can tell my stories. I don't need somebody strong, or clever, or smart if it isn't you. I want you, I need you, I just can't explain how much you mean to me."

He turned me again and kissed me roughly, deep and passionately. I returned it with all I could muster, wanting him to know that I needed him too.

"Ginny. I'm not going to run off after the werewolves. I'm planning to go to school with you, wolf hunting isn't really fitting for that schedule."

"Really?"

"Yes, as far as I'm concerned I'm not an auror yet. Only a student."

"You were only a student a year ago, you still left." I regretted the words as soon as I said them. I knew that this was not the same and I saw in Harry's eyes that my words hit a painful nerve. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." I muttered.

"Is that it, Ginny? Is that what you really feel?" he whispered.

"No, no forget that I said that."

He didn't.

"You feel like I left you?" He asked, his voice higher from the stress. "you feel like I abandoned you?"

I wanted to scream 'No!', I wanted to tell him that it was ridiculous, that I knew why he had left and that I knew it was only for my safety that he took his distance, but his words hit a spot I couldn't touch before, like a spasm, something that has always been there but that was now finally identified. My face must have shown my thoughts, Harry could read it clearly on my face, even though I tried to hide it.

I dared to glance at him quickly, he was white, all color had left his face, his eyes were unfocused and his mouth was hanging open. After a half a minute his eyes locked onto mine, the deep hurt in him was clear and I felt so bad, almost sick.

"I knew, still know why you did. I trusted you, that's why I let you go. It just wasn't easy." I whispered, remembering the nights I cried myself asleep and the thousands of conversation I had with myself to convince my heart that he was coming back for me.

"But you still felt like I abandoned you?" his voice sounded scared and sad.

"I knew why, it just wasn't easy to deal with. There is a part of me that convinced me quite a few times that you were off, having fun, not thinking about me or Voldemort. That your were off with Ron and Hermione to some tropical resort, ran away, leaving me to deal with the Death Eaters at school, but my logical side knew you weren't." I explained in all honesty.

"I never left you." He whispered. "I never wanted to leave you. Now I wish I never had."

I shook my head. "Don't regret the decisions you made."

"But if you felt abandoned…" I silenced him with a finger.

"Harry, I knew why you did it, you explained and I trusted you. You have to understand that school wasn't the place it used to be, I had too much time to think. Too much thinking isn't good, specially when you are already in a dark place with the Carrows torturing those we cared about, or saying that Voldemort had already killed you, it made me think to many negative things."

"But you still feel it, sometimes…or you wouldn't have said it like that, or be afraid of me leaving again."

"I didn't even know it was what I was feeling, it's there I think in the moments when I convince myself that I have changed too much, I know that I have changed a lot, I'm different than before, I know that I'm not the same girl you fell in love with."

"You realize that we both have changed, right?"

"I know, it's just I'm not used to this, to fear for something so much, or to cry, or to feel weak."

"But Ginny, that's what makes you, you. Yes, I fell in love with a feisty red head, but I also fell in love with the rest of you, the caring part, the quiet part, the part that laughed indulgent when I did something stupid. Ginny, I love everything about you. The fact that you can break down in my arms so that I can hug you until you feel better makes me love you even more. Besides I know that feisty red head is still there, I have seen her come out to play at night."

I giggled and relaxed a bit in his arms. I think the whole concept that Harry really loved me still had to sink in a bit. I was in love with him from the moment I saw him the first time at King's Cross and I had fought hard to win him for me, it had been a dream that had been roughly shattered as he did the thing he thought was best. Now I had to find it in me to really believe that this was my life, my future, my everything.

"What I meant before you panicked, with that I couldn't say anything to about those fears, is that I can't really take the fear away with just words. I can tell you that you worry too much, or that you shouldn't worry, but first that would be a lie, because there is enough to worry about, and second, it wouldn't help, we both have to face it and wait to see what will happen."

"You don't sound really happy about it." I noted.

"I'm not, I'd rather have life like it is now. On a beach here with you, my own sexy red head…slowly undressing you." He whispered hoarsely, melting away all stress that I had left.

And I had to admit last night life was perfect, we had watched the sun set while we worshipped each other. The candles around us had gone out before we went back to our hotel room. We fell asleep immediately, the day had been long and full of stress, but I felt at home in Harry's arms, just laying there, letting sleep wash over me.

As I finished packing my clothes back in the trunk I saw the corset I bought, for a second I regretted not wearing it this holiday, I had imagined wearing it for our first time but life can be so strange. One moment you worry about your first time like crazy, and the next you think back and realizing it was one of the most special nights of your life. Holding the corset in my hands I decided to tuck it away for an other special occasion. Maybe Harry's birthday or Christmas.

I got up and looked around to see if I had everything. I noticed today's Prophet laying on the desk. A picture of Kingsley was covering the front page. He had finally been officially named minister for magic, it was the first good news we had ever since Greyback's escape. I knew the whole wizarding community trusted him, he would be a good minister for magic.

I felt hands on my hips, sliding forward and pulling me against Harry's strong body.

"Are you almost ready?" he whispered in my ear.

"yeah, I think I got everything."

Harry took a deep breath and sighed.

"I guess we should go, the others are waiting for us." He said sadly.

"hmmm."

I turned around in his arms to kiss him.

"Thank you Harry, it has been an amazing vacation."

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_**Sorry, about the lack of lemons, but I have a surprise, I'm working hard on Ron's first time...it will be published as an outtake, but I hope I have it up before Christmas...**_

**_Next chapter will show us a bit about the trails and hearings at the ministry...until than..._**

**_HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS...!_**


	25. The Hearing

_**Next chapter before christmas, I'm writing very fast...**_

_**Thanks for the reviews, like always I love them**_

_**I hope you all got a story alert on my last chapter and this one, because I have the feeling something isn't working properly. I don't get my own alerts, I hope this problem will be solved soon, let me know if you didn't get an alert, I'll pm you when the next chapter is up.**_

_**enjoy this dark chapter!**_

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**25. The Hearing.**

_13th of July 1998 – Monday._

A month has passed since our vacation, surprisingly the month had been a peaceful one. Harry had been away a lot, his presence at the hearings was requested almost every day, and besides that he worked together with the head of the auror office Mr. Loron to round up any stray Death Eater.

Ron and Hermione had been away too, they had been helping out George with the shop. George was very grateful for their help as the shopping for Hogwarts season came close.

So I was alone with mom a lot, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Mom was a bit more relaxed since the vacation, a bit calmer. She and dad had used the hours alone to talk and to work through the loss of their son. She was more happy now than I had seen her in the last four years.

I flew my broom whenever I could, sometime Angelina would come over and practice Quidditch with me. She was still waiting for news from the teams she tried out for.

"They said that I would hear something before the first of August, so I'll have to wait." She said when I asked her about it. It was good to have her around, she was a every good flyer and I learned more from her than I had expected. She showed me a lot of new moves I had never seen before.

When we arrived home from the vacation I expected werewolves waiting for us at every corner but besides the last full moon there hadn't been many attacks. Just two days ago it had been full moon, and there had been seventeen attacks on children, this time only one person died, but a lot of kids got contaminated. Kingsley had pulled up some new rules about the treatment of young children that were werewolves by the wizarding community. He had ordered to build a school for them so that they could be taught outside Hogwarts if needed.

The auror office had arrested quite a few werewolves, but they hadn't come close to Greyback. Kingsley received a letter from Greyback every day, threatening him to give up Harry's hiding place or step down as minister, he threatened there would be more attacks if he didn't, but they never came.

Harry suspected Greyback to be brewing something up, some major attack.

"He has been in the inner circles of the Death Eaters, he must have learned something." Harry said to me one night.

Everybody was very careful, always carrying a wand and never go out alone. Kingsley advised us all to be vigilant and be there for each other.

Yesterday it had once again been topic during dinner. Mom had invited Kingsley, Mr. Loron – Lauri's father, and Hagrid over for dinner. I knew Kingsley and Harry both liked Mr. Loron very much, which was a bit surprising because his daughter was still together with Dudley.

"Arn, is one of the best aurors I have ever seen, he's like Mad-eye, strong, tough and he knows so much. He's going to be my trainer." Harry explained to me.

"What about the fact that his daughter is dating your cousin?"

"That's her mistake, Arn isn't too happy about it either. We have a lot of fun talking about Dudley's stupidity." Harry laughed.

I decided that I had to see for myself what type of man Mr. Loron is.

I helped my mom setting the table and preparing dinner. We were sitting outside, it just wasn't practical with Hagrid to be inside. At seven just after Hagrid we heard a group of people arrive, I recognized Harry's voice, it sounded cheerful, Kingsley's voice was easily recognized, but the cheery, relaxed man's voice that accompanied then I didn't recognize, it must have been Mr. Loron.

Mr. Loron, or Arn as he repeatedly asked me to call him, was very nice. His blue eyes, beard and long blond hair was typical Viking like, he look tough, but his eyes had something kind in them, something that only good people could have. He scored even more bonus points by just talking to everybody, he took the time to listen to everybody.

He talked with me about his wife, she was a muggleborn witch and worked as an international writer for a Norwegian news paper.

"She's has a hard time adjusting here, specially with me in such a dangerous job."

"Didn't you work as an auror back home?" I asked.

"Yes, I did, but we never had much to do with dark wizards and witches wanting to take over, mostly our job existed out of hunting for the dark arts fanatics that came from other countries. That wasn't very often." He explained. "I'm sure you'll have the same feeling about Harry's plan as my wife has about my job."

"Yeah, a bit." I confessed, "but I always knew that he would head for the auror office, it was the package deal I signed up for."

"Maybe you should talk to my wife some day, maybe you can help each other out."

"If we get the chance to meet I will."

After that he turned to Ron and Hermione, he asked them about their summer and about their plans for the rest of the summer. Ron and Hermione had been with George when they didn't needed to be in a courtroom. Hermione explained how she reorganized the whole workshop and their ordering systems, while Ron helped George out as a guinea pig.

"Now that George has everything in order, I really want to see if I can find my parents, but I have no idea where to start." Hermione told Arn.

"Oh, what happened to your parents?"

Hermione launched in her story, explaining to him why she had erased her parents memory of her and where she thought they were now.

"You know, I have an old school mate who moved to Australia, he works there for the ministry of magic, he's a link between the muggle and the wizarding world. Maybe he can help you." Arn said with a smile. His hand reached in his pocket and he took out a large stack of small pieces of parchment. With his wand he tapped one of the pieces and handed it to Hermione.

"That's his private address, you can send an owl to him, if you tell him I told you to do that he'll help you out."

Hermione was smiling and crying simultaneous, muttering a dozen thanks.

Harry and Hagrid were discussing the changes at school. Hagrid was extremely happy that McGonagall let him stay to teach, and Hagrid was happy to report that McGonagall had found somebody to teach Defense against the dark arts.

"Now the job isn't jinxed anymore, it's easier to find someone." Hagrid noted.

"Who is going to teach?"

"Dunno, some old auror."

Soon after that the discussion turned to the werewolf problem. They still hadn't found Greyback's hiding place, they felt like they had looked everywhere already.

"Maybe he is tracking across the country?" Ron suggested.

"No, the attacks on children are all located around one area, I think he is hiding around there somewhere." Kingsley said.

"That doesn't have to mean anything. He can apparate to the location where he wants to hunt. It makes much more sense to do that." Hermione said.

"but he has to be in the same area during the full moon, transformations are painful and draining, I don't think he will be up for traveling that day." Harry said.

"We had stayed invisible for almost a year before the snatchers caught up with us, and that was only because we made a mistake with the taboo. We could have stayed hidden for years if needed. Greyback could do the same." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"I really hope we can catch him sooner than that, Hermione." Kingsley said.

"But where can he hide?" Arn asked. "Where would a dark wizard, beast hide."

"Dunno, I even checked the Shrieking shack myself." Hagrid said.

"I think it's either in very large cities or very remote forests." Hermione muttered, more to herself than to us.

"Please explain that, Hermione." Dad said.

"Well he has to go around unnoticed, and even in his human form he really stands out, specially his face. The only places where you can go unnoticed are the large muggle cities or the forests where nobody comes. Muggles don't notice much and specially in a large group they keep to themselves, besides they don't recognize werewolves, they are myths to muggles."

"That makes sense." He nodded.

"Maybe he's using one of Voldemort's hiding places?" I threw in.

"That would be possible." Kingsley nodded.

"No, I don't think so. There maybe one place but I don't know if Riddle would have told them about it." Harry mused.

"What's on your mind, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"As far as I know Riddle used only a few hiding places. One in Albania, where I'm very sure Greyback is not, ever since his return to his full body I believe he has lived at the Malfoy manor, and we know Greyback isn't there."

"What is that one place you were talking about." I asked.

"I'm not even sure he ever was there to hide, but there is a place, a large manor that is empty, the manor where his muggle father used to live. The night he came back we were at a graveyard where his father was buried. Across the valley there was this large house, later with my sessions with Dumbledore I figured out it was the Riddle house. Because it was so close to the graveyard, it can be possible that he hid there."

"and Greyback might use it now." Ron said enthusiastically.

"Only problem is that I don't think Riddle would have ever told the Death Eaters about that house. It was the link to his muggle side, he would have never wanted to draw attention to that."

"That might be, it's still worth bringing a visit." Kingsley said.

"If you go there, you also should check the small shack hiding in the trees across the valley, that's where the last descendants of Slytherin lived, Riddle might have told them about that place." Harry noted.

The conversation went on and on like that, every now and then they would come up with a possible hiding place, so that someone else could find reasons why it wasn't Greyback's hiding place. I felt relieved that Kingsley agreed with me, unlikely or not they should all be visited.

It was getting dark when the three guests got up to leave.

"Oh, Ginny?" Kingsley started, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead." I nodded.

"You know we got one of the Carrows in our cells at the moment, tomorrow the hearing about her crimes she committed at Hogwarts is starting. I was hoping that you would come to the ministry to attend this hearing and give your testimony as well."

"Oh…" That was a bit surprising.

"Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Longbottom will be there as well."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there if you need me." I blushed a bit.

"The more we hear about what she has done the more chance of her being convicted, she's now playing that she was afraid of Severus Snape and that she was too scared to not follow his orders."

I snorted, "That is ridiculous."

"I quite agree, the hearing starts at nine. Harry will know which courtroom." Kingsley said as he waved goodbye.

Now I was getting ready for the hearing, digging through my clothes to find something proper to wear. I had to admit I was very nervous, not because I would be facing the whole Wizengamot but for Harry, he would be there, hearing our stories. He would be hearing from his friends and girlfriend how they were tortured and mistreated. I wasn't sure how he would take it all.

"Ginny are you ready to go?" Harry asked from downstairs.

"Yeah, just a second." I pulled on a maroon colored skirt and white shirt, and pulled my hair in a ponytail. This would have to do.

When I got downstairs I saw Harry waiting for me at the door, it was fifteen minutes to nine, he wanted to be early so he could talk to Neville and Luna before they started.

Fast, way to fast for my taste, we were walking down the dark corridor towards the courtroom. The halls were eerie but busy, witches and wizards were huddled in groups whispering quickly to each other. Sometimes one of them would turn and say hello to Harry. Harry knew almost every person there and sometimes stopped for a short talk.

Harry was talking with an old gray wizard when I heard somebody call my name.

"Ginny!"

I turned around to see where it came from. Luna and Neville were sitting on a bench close to the door. Luna looked her dreamy self as she waved at me, Neville on the other hand looked terrified and a bit pale.

"Hey. It's so good to see you two again." I said as I walked towards them.

"Yeah, you look good too, tanned." Luna said.

"We have been on a vacation to the Canary Islands, it was very nice."

"Dad and I didn't go on a vacation this summer, he's not up for it yet." Luna said sadly.

"What about you Neville?"

"Grandma isn't really a traveler, we spend some time with Teddy and Andromeda, Gran is in love with Teddy, but we are going to a special greenhouse project for magical plants next week."

I sat down next to them, watching Harry talk to important members of the Wizengamot. It was really remarkable how he had changed, he wasn't shy or intimidated anymore by these wizards and witches. He held himself differently when he talked to them.

"So you and Harry are together now?" Luna asked.

"Yes."

"Today will be hard for him." Luna casually said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he will hear your story today, yours is even worse than ours."

"You can't edit, Ginny." Neville commented.

"I know." I groaned, letting my head hang down. I had tried to think of a way to get Harry away from the hearing, but nothing seemed to be a good plan.

Harry came to sit with us and talked to Luna and Neville for a while. I would have paid attention to what they said but I was thinking about the hearing, about the stories I now must tell, things I wanted to keep from Harry as long as possible, thing I knew would be hard to handle for him.

I knew he had seen the scars on my body but he had never asked about them. I had hoped he would think of them as battle scars from my years in one house with Fred and George, but maybe he knew much more than I thought.

When it was nine the doors of the courtroom opened and we were all called in. The four of us sat together on one of the lower benches, shortly after that my father, Kingsley and Mr. Loron joined us. A whisper of words ran through the room as all the witches and wizards took their seat.

I looked around and saw many well known faces, students from Hogwarts, and teachers but also Neville's grandmother and other parents of students. The whole room was filled. Next to me Neville turned even paler when he saw the audience.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention please!" the chairman of the Wizengamot called and the whole room felt silent.

"Thank you, today we are here to hear out the stories of some students from Hogwarts about Ms. Carrow teaching methods and punishing ideas. We all know that Ms. Carrow has confessed on being a Death Eater and these stories shall be taking in account to determine her punishment for he crimes."

A murmur ran through the room again.

"The first student we call to the chair is Mr. Neville Longbottom."

Neville stood up shakily, but when the whole room applauded he straightened up and even managed to smile a bit. He quickly walked to the center of the room and sat down in a comfortable looking armchair.

"Please state your name and age for the record." A woman's voice called from the writing table.

"Oh, Neville Longbottom, age seventeen." Neville said nervously.

"There is no need to be nervous Mr. Longbottom, your story will only help us in our case against Ms. Carrow."

Neville nodded but stayed extremely pale.

"Did you follow Ms. Carrow's lessons of muggle studies?" the chairman asked.

"No, sir."

"Did you have anything to do with her during your school year?"

"Yes, sir."

"Please explain."

"She…she and her brother always attended the detention groups. They would punish those who had detention."

"You were in detention a lot?" the chairman asked curiously.

"Uhm, yes. We, I mean me and some of my friends tried to stand up against the Death Eaters at school, most of it was punished severely."

"How did you and your friends tried to stand up against three Death Eaters?" a woman higher up on the benches asked.

"Oh, well, we tried to make life difficult for them, hexing their food, trying to slip them potions that would cause nasty things, we even tried to break in to the head masters office once but we got caught."

"And the punishment for these things?" the chairman asked.

"When we got caught, most of the time Professor Snape would punished us, they weren't bad, he would have us do chores or something like that, but if one of the Carrows caught us we would be used as a dark arts study object. Mostly Mr. Carrow let younger Slytherins practice the Cruciatus curse on us."

"What happened when they didn't catch you as the culprit?"

Neville took a deep breath and shook his head to clear it, both our memories on that were pretty clear and still frightening.

"They would threaten to torture a half-blood first-year in front of the whole school until the culprit would report him- or herself. We never let that happen."

"You always reported yourself?"

"Yes, we wouldn't have those young kids take the punishment for our actions."

"Who led most of these actions?" the chairman asked.

"Mostly it was me and Ginny, Ginny Weasley, she did most of it before her parents took her out of school. After that I organized everything. There were a lot of other students who joined us, me over the year, some of them got treated very badly by the Carrows."

"You must explain why you would rather take the punishment of torture than to stop your actions?" the witch on the higher seat asked.

"Well, firstly we wanted to show support to Harry and Dumbledore, we had hope that word of our actions would reach him and that he would feel encouraged, also because the Carrows made life at Hogwarts very dark, we just couldn't do nothing, specially after we saw their way of punishment, the way they tortured the younger kids. Besides the punishments weren't that bad, most kids couldn't perform the Cruciatus curse at all, it only hurt when Ms. or Mr. Carrow showed how it was done."

I glanced over at Harry, he was as white as Neville was, his jaw was clenched and his hands shaking. I grabbed one and squeezed it softly, letting him know we were all okay, now. It helped a bit, he relaxed enough to take a slow breath but besides that his face stayed in the same hard expression. Neville's hearing continued for an other thirty minutes, his words brought back all the images from my last school year. I was sure that when I was called forward that I would have no problem with my memory, it was burned in it.

Luna was called up next. Her story was mostly about how the Carrows threatened her with the killing of her father if she didn't behave.

"Every day when I would walk the corridors they would come up to me, telling me that if I was up to no good they would kill my father." Luna said strongly. There was no trace of fear or nervousness in her, she was a strong witch.

"What did you do with that?" the chairman asked.

"Nothing, some things are more important, besides my dad is perfectly capable of defending himself. I supported Harry and Dumbledore like I always have."

"You were kidnapped by the Death Eaters shortly before Christmas, am I right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Can you tell me how that happened and what happened?"

"I was called by professor Snape to visit him in his office. When I got there we were alone, he asked me to sit and I thought I was getting punished for the prank we had pulled on him that day, but when he turned to me he looked troubled. He said, '_It's the dark lord's wish that you would be taken to the manor, where he can keep you safe until your father listens to him_.' Told him that I didn't care about the dark lord's wishes and that they would have to take me with force, I had my wand ready. Professor Snape sighed and closed his eyes, I was about to hex him when he disarmed me. He spoke again, '_Miss Lovegood, I know what you and your friends are doing and it's dangerous, if you want to survive this you must listen carefully…never anger Bellatrix, she'll hurt you more than anyone, when the dark lord asks questions never lie unless you have perfect skills in Oclumency. Be careful with what you do and say.'_ I didn't understood why he was giving me these advises but before I could ask Mr. Malfoy, Draco's father, walked in and took me with him."

I had never known how brave Luna really was but to hear her telling about this encounter with Snape and from what I know happened at the Malfoy manor, she should have been a Gryffindor.

We had a lunch before I was called up to tell my story. I kissed Harry quickly and got up. My father patted me on my back and Kingsley winked encouraging at me.

"Keep an eye on Harry." I whispered to Luna who took my place next to Harry. She smiled and nodded.

I sat down in the center of the room and looked for a second at Harry, he looked like he was sick, pale with a greenish glow. I smiled at him briefly before I returned my attention to the chairman.

"Please state your name and age." The writing witch said.

"Ginny Weasley, sixteen."

"You are underage, do you have signed permission from your parents or guardian that you are allowed to make a statement?"

I turned to my father in surprise I didn't knew that was needed, but it was Kingsley who got up.

"She has." His low voice sounded through the room.

"Good, lets start." The chairman said. "Please tell us, last year was your sixth year at Hogwarts, am I correct."

"Yes, sir."

"And did you follow any subject taught by the Carrows?"

"Yes, both Muggle studies and Defense against the dark arts."

"Could you please describe how the lessons of muggle studies were?"

"Horrific. Ms. Carrow taught about muggles like they were animals, maybe even less. She called them dirty and filth. She also repeatedly told us why as an pure blood we shouldn't mingle with mud-bloods or muggles, that they were either criminals or not worth looking up on. The lessons were focused on why wizards and witches were good and muggles and muggleborns were bad."

"and could you tell us a bit about the Defense against the Dark arts lesson?"

"They were even more horrific, to be honest. It wasn't Defense anymore, it was just the Dark arts. Mr. Carrow first taught us the theory behind the unforgivable curses and than we had to practice them on animals and insects. If we refused, as I did every class, we were punished."

"What kind of punishment do we talk about?"

I dared a glance in Harry's direction but he didn't meet my eye. I took a deep breath and sighed.

"When I refused to use the unforgivable curses, they would use me as an example in class. Only when professor Snape attended the classes would they give me normal punishment like lines or chores."

"What do you mean by being used as an example?" asked the witch on the upper benches, she looked shocked.

"They used me to show the others how you would properly perform the Cruciatus curse or the Imperious Curse."

"You must have gotten injured?" she asked in shock.

"With the Cruciatus curse the injuries weren't that bad, those who stood up against the Death Eaters quickly learned how to heal small wounds and wounds inflicted by minor curses, but with the Imperious curse they let you do things that sometimes led to bigger injuries."

"Can you give us an example?"

I closed my eyes, ready to shake no, I didn't want Harry to hear this or any of them, these were my burdens not theirs, but Neville's words kept ringing in my head.

"It's okay not too, if it's too hard." Kingsley said. My eyes snapped open.

"No, this need to be told but I don't want to burden people with these things. I'll give an example, but remember that this one isn't the worse."

The witches and wizards around me murmured and nodded.

"One time shortly before my parents pulled me out for my own safety they asked the class to perform a hex on a cat. I'm a cat person, I love cats, so I got really angry and instead of hexing the cat I pointed my wand at Mr. Carrow, he wasn't very happy with me and immediately put me under the Imperious Curse, I tried to fight it with all I had but before I could throw it off I was lying on the floor, a gash on my forehead and a deep one on my back, bleeding like crazy. The hex I was supposed to do on the cat, he had me do on myself. If Professor Snape hadn't walked in at that moment it would have been a lot worse."

"What hex was it?"

"Sectumsempra."

A loud murmur ran through the courtroom as everybody looked shocked. I didn't dare to look at Harry, I prayed that he still was there but I wouldn't blame him if he had left. I was sure that if I would to hear Harry telling something like this I would have ran out before throwing up all over the floor.

After a few minutes the room became quiet again and the chairman continued with his questions.

"Ms. Lovegood told us a bit about how normal life in the castle was impossible with the Carrows patrolling in corridors, can you tell us about your experience with that?"

"When…when people, specially the Carrow and students from Slytherin realized that we, me and a large group of friends were still fighting for Harry and Dumbledore, we became a target. There were incidents with students from Slytherin, nasty accidents, but the Carrows were brutal, they would physically beat someone and specially Ms. Carrow, she was quite creative in making sure we got the message that rioting against them and supporting Harry, specially as a pure-blood that was something close to deserving the death penalty for."

"Explain please."

"Well, there was one time that I was talking loudly about Harry, which was forbidden, and she heard me. Suddenly I was suspended in the air upside down. I laughed at her, telling her that she was fighting a lost battle, so she got angry and took me to the great hall, during dinner time, she let me hang there upside down so that everybody could see me getting punished. Professor McGonagall finished it but I had fun until than."

"Fun?"

"Uhm, yes, she, Ms Carrow, isn't very smart you see, so she never silenced me or anything, so I was singing and shouting my support for Harry, Dumbledore and the good cause through the hall while it was full with students. I tried to rally more students for our fight. She only got more and more angry and panicky but she couldn't curse me because of the other teachers there attending dinner. Anyway, supporting the good cause wasn't the best way to stay safe."

The chairman nodded, I think he thought I was crazy. Maybe I was a little, but I grew up with Fred and George, humiliation and a little bit of pain was drilled into me from a young age, it didn't bother me any more.

"How many times did they use the Cruciatus curse on you?"

"Too many to count…maybe once every week maybe more." I breathed.

"and was it just for a short time and for punishment or was there more behind it."

"In the beginning it was just short snaps, specially when they let the other students do it, but after a while, when the Death Eaters couldn't find Harry, al those who supported him where interrogated regularly."

"and during these interrogations the torturing took longer."

"Yes, we all got scars from that. And it wasn't just the Cruciatus curse they used. They would beat us or tried to scare us. Anything really." I said solemnly.

"What questions did Ms. Carrow ask?"

"All sort, about where we thought Harry could be, about if we were still in contact with him, if he was behind our actions, but also about where we were hiding, where our secret meeting place was. Specially Ms. Carrow was sure that we would meet up with Harry there."

"Did you knew or answer."

"No, I didn't knew answers to the questions about Harry and no I never answered to those I did knew."

"What happened when you didn't gave them any information?"

"They used force, once I ended up in the hospital wing."

I stood up and pulled up my shirt to show them the long scar that was running down my side. Most of my scars were gone, and had been gone before Harry could see them but this large on still remained.

I heard a sob to my side, coming from Harry's direction, I turned to see what was going on. I saw Luna with her arm around Harry, he held his head in his hands and rested them on his knees.

The chairman pulled my attention back to him with a cough and I let my shirt down.

"It seems like you were treated worse than the others, do you have any idea why?"

I snorted.

"I'm a Weasley, according to the Death Eaters philosophy I'm the worst blood traitor in the world, besides that the whole school knew I was Harry Potter's girlfriend and I was making my case known every chance I got."

"It all seems so horrible, you are so young to endure such a thing, and it almost sounds like you did it voluntarily."

"It's like Neville said. Of course I rather had that we had a happy year at Hogwarts, all our years have been clouded by something bad, of course it would have been nice to have a quiet untroubled year, but that wasn't the case, and like Luna and Neville and quite a few others we just couldn't sit and watch it happen. The Carrows openly tortured, abused and humiliated younger kids, first-years that didn't even know what Dark arts were, there was no way we would sit and watch. We fought against them for Harry, Dumbledore and the wizarding world."

I was surprised that quite a few wizards and witches applauded, what I had said was true and I would do it again with out questioning. What I did question was the fact that Harry had been here to hear it all. He was still sitting on the bench with his head in his hand, his shoulders shaking with sobs.

I looked pleadingly at the chairman, hoping to be released from this seat so that I could go to Harry. He nodded.

"Thank you, Ms. Weasley, you may go now. Today's hearing is finished, tomorrow we will continue with the interrogation of Ms. Carrow." The chairman called and most witches and wizards left the courtroom immediately.

I rushed toward Harry, bumping against somebody but I didn't care.

"Harry?" I called but I got no reaction. Luna got up to let me sit next to Harry. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to me. "Harry?" I whispered again.

This time he looked up, his face hard and his eyes glassy.

"Are you ready, I should take you home?" he said with a cold voice.

I thought getting home might be a good idea, he could release some frustration there, so I nodded. We said a quick goodbye to Neville and Luna, promising them to write or visit soon.

Harry pulled me quickly along the corridors, it went so fast that I almost missed the very worried look on Kingsley's face.

A soon as we were out of the building Harry pulled me along in apparition. For a few very uncomfortable seconds I couldn't breath. When my feet were back on the ground I pulled a deep breath.

"Harry, I'm sorry…" I turned around, expecting him to be next to me but be wasn't, "Harry!"

There was no answer, maybe I let go to soon and he had arrived closer to the house, so I ran toward the Burrow.

"Harry!" I called again.

"Ginny?" I heard my moms voice coming from the kitchen.

"Mom, have you seen Harry?"

"No dear, I thought he was with you at the ministry."

I looked around in panic, Harry was nowhere to be seen.

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**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	26. Sorry

_**I hope you all had a good Christmas! up to the new years celebrations...and a new chapter...**_

_**first I want to thank all my reviewers again and again...specially the two Dutch reviews I got, it's good to see my fellow Dutch-men enjoying my story...**_

__

**I'm sorry the next chapter is a bit short but to do a complete summer house story would make it very long...You'll have to see in the next chapter what I mean...**

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**26. Sorry.**

"Harry!" I called around the house a dozen times. I looked everywhere, his room, my room, Ron's room, the garden, the orchard, even the broom shed but he was no where to be found. I was in a state of panic when I returned to the house. My mom looked at me with wide eyes not even knowing what to say.

With nowhere around the house to look I resorted to my last idea, Kingsley.

I ran towards the fire place, stuck my head in and threw down some flew powder, praying silently that he was with Kingsley.

My head spun around until I was in Kingsley's office.

"Kingsley!" I called cause I couldn't see him. I heard footsteps, hoping to see Harry but very disappointed when it was just Kingsley how came into sight.

"Ginny, what a surprise." He smiled.

"Kingsley, do you know where Harry is?"

"Isn't he with you?"

"No, he was but he's disappeared. I can't find him at the Burrow."

"I thought he was staying with you, there is no reason for him to be here."

"I know, but he was so upset after the hearing…god, he isn't…"

I fell silent.

"What is it, Ginny?"

"Where is Ms. Carrow locked up?"

"Here at the ministry, why?"

"Kingsley, do think Harry would vent his anger on her?"

Kingsley was silent for a second, thinking about my words.

"I don't think so, it will be hard for him to be with her alone in the cellblock but I'll check to be sure, wait a second." He got up and waved his wand, I saw his patronus leave the office. Kingsley waited for a few second staring at the door. Very soon a patronus I didn't recognized returned. I couldn't hear what it said but Kingsley quickly turned to me.

"He isn't in the building, Ginny, the cells are very well protected nobody has seen him there. Maybe he went somewhere else to vent. I can understand if he need to let out some of his frustrations after this morning and afternoon."

"Thanks, Kingsley, I'll search somewhere else."

"Asked Ron or Hermione where they think he is, they will probably have a good idea. Let me know if you find him."

"I will."

I quickly pulled my head out of the fire place and got up.

"And?" my mom asked.

"He isn't at the ministry." I said in panic, for the first time I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked when she walked in.

"Hermoine, Harry is missing, you've got to help me find him." I rattled.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Harry brought me home after the hearing, he was really upset, we apparated to here but before I could look he was already gone, he isn't anywhere around the house and he's not at the ministry." I rushed through my explanation. "I think he went somewhere to vent, he must be very upset."

"You have no idea where he went?" Hermione asked.

I shook my head.

"He can be anywhere." I muttered.

Hermione stared out of the window for a while, I was thinking of a place where he could be and I was sure she was doing the same. After a long time Hermione turned and looked me in the eye.

"Lets find him." She muttered. She held out her hand and I took it quickly.

"Let me know if you find him!" mom called after us.

I nodded in her direction and ran out with Hermione, as soon as we were outside the safe zone, she twisted and pulled my along to the first location she wanted to look.

I recognized the place immediately.

"Do you really think he went here?" I whispered.

"I'm not sure but we had to start somewhere."

Hermione tapped the door with her wand and pushed it open, the old lamps in the dark hallway sprang into light. Hermione stepped through the door and I followed her.

"I don't think he has been here." I whispered.

"Why not?"

"No footsteps in the dust on the floor." I said as I pointed to the hallway floor, it was completely covered with dust.

"Hmm, that could be, lets ask Kreacher. He should be here somewhere."

We slowly passed the giant foot that served as an umbrella holder, and took the steps down to the kitchen.

"Kreacher?" Hermione called.

"Yes, mud…Miss." We heard a voice coming from the corner.

"Oh hello, Kreacher, we are looking for Harry, do you know where he is?"

"Can't tell miss, I must keep my master's secrets." Kreacher shook his head.

"Please Kreacher, it's important that we find him, tell me." I tried, hoping that Harry had indeed made me part off all that was his in the way he wanted. Kreacher would have to answer me if that was the case.

"Mistress Weasley, anything for you. I saw master Harry at Hogwarts just fifteen minutes ago, but he left there after a short visit, don't know where he is now."

"Damn, Hogwarts, I should have known that, that is the place where he would go to." I muttered.

"But where is he now." Hermione murmured.

"Do you want me to look for him?" Kreacher offered.

"No, it's okay, I'll do that, if he comes here let him know I'm looking for him." I answered.

Kreacher nodded and Hermione and I left Grimmauld place.

"Where next?" Hermione asked when we got outside.

"Not Hogwarts, but where?" I murmured.

"What about the other houses?"

"There is one here in London but I think it's very unlikely. I don't think Harry really felt like it was home there. Maybe the summer house, he liked that one, it was really peaceful."

"Lets go there." Hermione took my hand, "You have to tell me where to."

So I did, and in seconds we were at the gate that led into the beautiful garden.

"Can we go in?" Hermione asked.

"I'm pretty sure we can?" Confident that Harry would have arranged for me to have free access to this house as well, I opened the gate and walked up the path toward the house.

"Wow." Hermione breathed. "This house is beautiful. Why hasn't Harry told us anything about this?"

"You'll find out any second now." I muttered, looking around the garden to see if I could find Harry.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

But before I could answer I heard the sound that would betray Harry's secret.

"Miss Weasley, good to see you back here." The house-elf said when he appeared in front of us. He bowed deeply and waited for me to say something.

"Drooble, this is Hermione, she's a very good friend of Harry and me."

"Good to meet you miss." Drooble bowed to Hermione. Hermione forced a smile at him but quickly looked at me.

"Harry has two extra house-elves, they came with the houses. Drooble here belongs to this house, the London house is kept by a female house-elf." I whispered as I stared at my shoelace.

"Why didn't you tell?"

"Because Harry was afraid you'd get angry."

"Miss Weasley, shall I make tea?" Drooble offered.

I turned my attention back to the house-elf.

"No, thank you, Drooble. We are looking for Harry, have you seen him?"

"No, miss, he hasn't been here since he visited last time, with you Miss." The house-elf said sadly.

"Are you sure? We really need to find him." Maybe Harry had given him the order not to tell.

The house-elf shook his head.

"No, Drooble would love to have master Harry here to care for, but he isn't."

I believed the elf and looked at Hermione, I was lost, I really had no idea where he was. I had become very sure that he was here, it was a large secluded area, a place when he could scream, kick and curse freely without muggles or wizards noticing it.

To be honest I started to panic all over again. It wasn't good for him to travel alone, or be alone, specially with the werewolves and not-yet-caught Death Eaters running around freely.

I could see Hermione was doing some brain work. He eyes were out of focus and her lips were trembling.

Suddenly she gasped.

"I think I know where he is." She whispered. She turned and took my hand.

"Drooble, Harry and I will be back here tonight, if I can find him, please make sure the house is ready." I told him. He nodded with a smile and disappeared. I knew that Harry would want to be somewhere away from people, this seemed like the perfect place. That was, if we could find him at all.

Hermione pulled me along, and just outside the gate she twisted and off we were.

We landed just outside a small town. It looked very cheery, some summer festival was held.

"Where are we?" I asked Hermione.

"Godric's Hollow."

"Ooh. You think he went here."

"Yes, lets go."

She pulled me along towards the church, I was very sure Harry wouldn't be in a church and I was about to question Hermione's smartness when I saw the statue in the square. I gasped. It was Harry and his parents. I was too far away from it to read what was written on the plaque, but the statue looked beautiful.

"You can look later, Ginny, we are almost there." Hermione said as she quickly pulled me along. We rushed through the crowed of people, they were all dressed in muggle summer clothes and dancing and singing happily.

We arrived at a old looking gate next to the church, only than did I realize that we were heading for the graveyard. Hermione stopped and looked through the gate, her eyes fixed in one direction.

"There." She sighed as she pointed toward a tree.

I sighed in relieve, there under the large green leaves of the ancient tree sat Harry, staring in front of him.

"Why here?" I whispered.

"His parents are buried there. It must give him some comfort being close to them." Hermione whispered. "You go to him. I'll tell Kingsley and your mother that we have found him and that you two will stay at the summer house tonight. Ron and I will come there tomorrow."

I nodded. "Thanks." I whispered.

Hermione walked back and waved. I turned to the gate and opened it slowly. Careful not to make too much noise I walked towards Harry. My eyes never left him, not even when I got a glimpse of the Dumbledore name on a grave.

I decided against approaching him from behind, his nerves would be fragile, he would attack me before knowing it was me. Slowly I walked towards the grave Hermione had pointed out. I stopped in front of it and looked down. It was indeed Lily and James Potter's grave. It looked very well kept, Harry had created some flowers and put them on the grave. It was a beautiful peaceful place, here just below the tree, for a second I wondered who had picked this final place for them but I couldn't come up with an answer.

After a minute or so I turned around and looked at Harry. He looked like a miserable pile of flesh and bones.

"Come." I whispered as I extended my hand. It took a good five minutes before he took it but slowly he came back to life. I pulled him up and wrapped my arms around him, just holding him, but he stayed stiff and silent.

After a minute of no response I sighed and let him go. I looked around us to see if anyone else was there. We were well hidden from muggle eyes, so I took the gamble. I had learned in school how to do it, now it time had came to actually do it. I thought with all my power about the Summer house and the small road in front of the gate. I twisted on the spot, like taking the step to the imaginary gate and I pulled Harry along with me.

I knew I had done it because I could smell the rosebushes and freshly baked scones in the wind. I opened my eyes to see the gate.

"What are we doing here?" Harry asked in surprised for a second he was back to the Harry I had seen the last few week, but his face turned to stone very quickly again.

"I thought some peace and quiet would do." I snapped and I pulled him along with me up to the house. We weren't going to have this discussion here in public.

Drooble came to greet us, I smiled at him and told him we would call for him when we wanted tea or dinner. Harry managed to smile and nod at him.

I walked into the house, trying to remember the way to the living room, luckily my memory didn't fail me and I opened the door to the beautiful large living room. I let go of Harry when he stood next to the sofa, he sat down immediately. His head in his hands and his eyes closed.

"Talk to me." I begged as I paced in front of him.

Harry looked up at me, pale white again.

"I'm sorry." He murmured.

"Sorry! You are Sorry! That's all you can say. I just had the worst day of my life, reliving the things that happened to our friends at Hogwarts, knowing how it would effect you, and you just ran off! Without a word, without ME!" I yelled, my temper was definitely getting the better of me.

"What happened to our friends?" Harry asked in disbelieve. "Christ! Ginny! what about you?"

he stood up looking livid.

"What happened to me was only what happened to me, it was much harder to watch it happen to the others. Harry, you are not the only one who would sacrifice everything for those they care about!" I snapped.

"Ginny! Dammit, stop being like that. It isn't normal, it was not normal the way they treated you! I left to protect you, I left you so that you were safe!"

"In case you missed it this morning, it was MY choice to stand up again the Carrow. It was MY choice to continue the D.A.!"

"You should have been safe!" Harry roared. "I told you to be safe!"

"And watch how others were being tortured and doing nothing. Harry I though you knew me better than that!"

Harry sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Ginny." Harry whispered. "I'm sorry, I should have let you to be when we were at school. I'm sorry, I knew when I started it, it wouldn't be the best thing for you, I knew it would cause you to be in danger. I'm sorry, I should have never put you in that place…"

"DAMMIT ! Harry, stop it." I roared, hitting the wall with my fist. "When are you getting it into that thick head of yours that it wouldn't have mattered! I would have chosen to act against them even if you were only somebody at school. Even if you weren't my brothers best friend. I still would have chosen to stand up against them. It was war, even at Hogwarts!"

"But they did exactly the thing I was hoping to prevent by leaving you."

"Yes, as they did to Neville, Luna, Seamus, and about every other student you were close with." I sighed. "Don't you see, there was nothing to do to prevent it. We didn't do it because of you, we did it because it was the only thing we could do."

We were silent for a while, I turned to look outside the window, I was still fuming, trying to breath normally to calm down a bit.

Harry could be noble all he wanted but he had to realize that sometimes things couldn't be changed with nobility or bravery, sometimes things just were. He had to learn that changing the world wasn't up to him. Defeating Voldemort was enough, the rest was out of his hands, but somehow he refused to believe that.

We stayed silent for a long time, so long, that I wondered if Harry still was with me in this room. I decided against turning around. It was up to him to make up his mind, I wasn't going to interfere with that.

"Ginny." Harry started. "I'm so.."

"Harry, if you are going to say that word one more time I'll hex you." I snapped.

I heard him get up and walk in my direction. He placed his hands on my shoulders, waiting for a second, when I didn't pull away or reacted in any way, he traced his hands down my arm and on to my stomach. He pulled me close to him and placed his head on my shoulder. Kissing my ear and neck.

It was hard to remember my anger when he did that, but I held on, he needed to learn.

"Ginny." He whispered. "Listen to me, I am sorry."

His hold on my became more tight and I realized that he was holding my arms down so I couldn't grab my wand. I groaned and Harry chuckled softly.

"I am sorry, sorry for leaving you without warning this afternoon."

"You better be sorry for that." I growled.

"Shhh, let me talk." He hissed in my ear. "I needed to get away this afternoon, after hearing your story, Neville's and Luna's as well, I needed someone to blame and I could only point the finger to myself."

I started to speak but he place a hand over my mouth.

"Shhh." He hissed again. "I know you don't agree with that, but I don't think like you do. I look at what happened as something that could have been, well maybe not prevented, but not going on so long if I had stayed focused on the task Dumbledore set for me. I let my own assumptions and feelings get in the way. It needed Dobby's death to get me refocused again. In my eyes too many lives were taking while I was blinding with my own anger at Dumbledore, too many lives were taken before I got my focus back."

Harry kissed the end of my ear again, one hand still making sure I kept quiet while the other held my arms in place.

"I ran away because I couldn't deal with the results of my laps in judgment. I like to believe that I would have been back at the burrow before nightfall. I just needed to release some of my anger with myself."

His arm around me pulled me even closer to him, if that was possible.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that at school, no one should have, and I started to wonder if it had been the right choice to stay away from Hogwarts for so long. I doubted my decisions, maybe I should have come and fight with you."

He sighed deeply.

"To hear you tell about all these foul things that happened to you, and why it all happened, made me doubt my decision to leave you. It made me wonder if I shouldn't have stayed with you, or took you with me. I know I would have never done that, it would have brought you only to more danger but still, all this makes me rethink everything."

He took his hand away from my mouth indicating that he was finished. I didn't say anything, mainly because I knew I couldn't say anything useful or helpful. I did have a question for him, though.

"Why did you go to Dumbledore's portrait to talk about this? Why won't you talk to me about these things?"

Harry kissed my neck again and took a deep breath.

"Because you are to close to me. When I talk to Dumbledore or McGonagall I often lose my temper. I don't want to be yelling at you, I can talk to you about almost everything, but this part of my life is one with many still open wounds. I just don't want to hurt you when I say something stupid in my frustration."

"You know that somewhere down the line we will have a fight, don't you. We just saw that we both have short tempers and you can't always run to Hogwarts whenever we don't agree."

"I know, and I'll happily fight with you and make it up to you when we come across issues that causes disagreements. I just hope for now that you will allow me to vent against a portrait and not you. I don't want to burden you too much with it."

"One day you will have to open up about everything to me, Harry. I trust you, I have always trusted you, but it has to come from both sides in a relationship."

"I know, but let me deal with all this first. Once I'm able to give it a place and the mental wounds are healed a bit more, I'll be able to tell you all of it."

I nodded and sighed. I knew that this was one of many disagreements we had to face in our life together, specially with my temper.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, once I started to calm down a bit and noticed my hand hurting like crazy, I must have hit the wall harder than intended. I tried to flex my hand but I flinched away from the pain. I came to the conclusion that I probably had broken it and would have mom fix it later.

"What's wrong." Harry asked.

"Nothing." I said as I waved it away with my wrong hand. Harry noticed that I flinched again.

"Ginny?"

I sighed.

"My hand hurts, I think I have broken it." I murmured shamefully.

"Let me see."

I turned and Harry took my hand softly, it was already swelling and turning blue.

"I could heal that for you." He said.

"Really, I didn't knew you could do healing spells?"

"Learned it from Hermione's books when we were hunting Horcruxes. I thought it would be useful some day."

I nodded and looked at my hand, worse than this wasn't possible so I agreed. He took his hand and murmured strange words softly. I felt a heat wave spread through my hand, the pain became immediately less and I could move my fingers again, not freely but at least without too much pain.

"Hermione will have to check it tomorrow and she'll have you drink some potion." Harry whispered as he kissed my hand. I turned in his arms again, resting my head against his chest and sighed contently.

We stood there watching the outside world, after a while I started to realized for the first time that somewhere in the near future this was going to be my life. Here with Harry, in this large house that already felt like home, we would have many arguments here, there would be many times that we would discus things here in this room. Somehow it didn't felt strange, it felt good.

"Harry, do you really want to live in Godric's Hollow after school?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because, I really like this house, it feels like home somehow, it feels good to be here. I think I could be really happy living here."

"We could live here, if you want to." He said, but his voice sounded off.

"If you really want to live in Godric's Hollow, it's okay. We could live here first until we find something there."

"You know what, we will see after school. We can enjoy this house as long as you like."

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Come in." Harry called.

The door creaked open and the small house-elf peaked in.

"Sorry, to bother you sir, miss, but I have dinner ready for a while now, me was wondering if you still want it."

Harry looked down at me for an answer.

"Yes, that would be nice."

"The table in the drawing room is ready." The house-elf said and disappeared.

We walked through the double sliding doors to the table. It was set romantically, candles were floating just above it, freshly cut flowers decorated it and instead of sitting opposite each other we were seated next to each other.

We just stood there, watching the table.

"Is something wrong?" A small voice said behind us.

"No." I breathed. "The table is set beautiful, it took us by surprise."

"Oh, it's how master James ordered me to set the table, he always wanted to sit next to mistress Lily."

Harry smiled and pulled me to the table. He helped me sit like the perfect gentlemen and sat down next to me.

"See your dad was a hopeless romantic." I whispered.

Harry smiled widely for the first time today, I sighed in relieve that he was slowly feeling better.

We had a very pleasant dinner, when Drooble served desert Harry did something very surprisingly, he asked Drooble to sit with us.

"Drooble, can you sit with us for a second and tell us a bit more about James and Lily, when they were here?"

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**Please review, tell me what you think...**

**The outtake for Ron and Hermione's first time is also up, see my story list for the outtakes**


	27. Birthday surprised, part 1

_**Happy New Year, my dear readers...I'm sorry it took me a bit long to update but with Christmas and the new years eve parties I had very little time to really focus on my writing...**_

_**To prevent that this chapter became impractical long I decided to cut it in two...I hope you'll like it, these two chapters are are a bit of a between story until Harry and Ginny and their friends are going back to Hogwarts...**_

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**27. Birthday surprises, part 1.**

Our stay at the Summer house was very enjoyable. Drooble told us stories about James, Sirius and Lily. Sometimes he talked about Remus and Peter Pettigrew, but it was clear that Sirius and James had stayed here a lot. Sirius was even considered a part of the family as Drooble called him Master Sirius.

We learned how Harry's grandparents from both sides had died at the hand of Death Eaters or Voldemort himself. James's father had been an retired auror but was considered too dangerous by Voldemort because the Order had asked him to join. He and James's mother were killed by Voldemort 3 days before the start of the summer holiday between James's 5th and 6th year at Hogwarts.

Not wanting to return to the Potter mansion in Godric's Hollow to face the empty house, James had stayed at the Summer house for the summer, together with Sirius he had worked through the loss and had planned to win Lily's heart for good.

Relying on the story Drooble told us it was that summer that James finally grew-up and became the guy Lily wanted to date. I could honestly believe that the death of his parents made James realize that the world was a more serious place than he had thought.

Drooble told us how James and Sirius had spend evening after evening discussing the future, their ideas of joining Dumbledore in his fight against Voldemort and winning Lily's heart.

Lily's parents were killed by Death Eaters during christmas in their 6th year. There had been a wave of attacks on parents of muggle-borns and Lily's parents were one couple of many. Lily had been attacked as well but had been able to defend herself enough to survive. James had gone to St. Mungo's immediately after he heard Lily had been attacked and brought her to the Summer house where he and Sirius had organized a Christmas party for the four boys. Drooble had taken care of Lily's injuries and during those days Lily and James had become very close.

Drooble told us that James had invited Lily to stay with him and Sirius for the summer as well. They had all stayed at the Summer house, just enjoying the last summer of complete freedom.

Drooble also told us about how James proposed to Lily. It had been the Christmas after their final school year. James had organized a grand dinner for a group of eight friends, Remus, Peter, Sirius and his first serious girlfriend, Anna, a friend of Lily, Alice and Frank Longbottom, and between the main course and desert he had gone down on one knee and popped the question.

Harry's face had all lit up when Drooble talked about the happiest period of his parents life. It was clear that these stories meant a lot to him

Later that night we had spend a lot of time talking, Drooble made sure we had everything we wanted or needed. We talked mainly about Harry's issues with the lack of knowledge about his parents. The thing that troubled him most was that his parents best friends were now all dead and that he couldn't ask things about them anymore. The existence of the two house-elves were a blessing to him.

The night was even more pleasurable. I must admit it was a bit weird, I mean it was after all Harry's parents house, bedroom, bed, but we made love that night in the most simplest way of all. Both still a bit sore from our disagreement and rough day, we wanted to just love each other.

Harry was so sweet and caring, his hands were always touching some bit of my skin. Kissing our way up the stairs, losing clothes along the way, we felt down on the four poster king-size bed. Heated with passionate kisses my body welcomed his hard cock without a hitch.

We both had groaned as we reconnected, it had been so long since the vacation, and the sensation of having him inside me again had been very overwhelming. It had caused me to fall in a deep orgasm with only two hard strokes. When I recovered my body remembered how to please Harry and completely lost in our own little world I made Harry scream my name until he got hoarse.

The next morning we found out that Drooble was very used to having to take care of a couple in love. Our clothes had been washed and placed on chairs on either side of the bed. Also robes had been laid out for us.

"Our these for us?" I had asked Harry when I held up a beautiful black witch robe.

"I think so. We should at least try them on."

"But they would have been your parents robes, isn't that a bit weird?"

Harry thought about that for a while, but shook his head.

"No, I think these look very nice, and Drooble probably went through a lot of trouble to get them to the right size. We should try them on at least for a while."

"Okay, but we have to hurry, Ron and Hermione will arrive soon."

Harry in dark green wizarding robes, seriously that is a sight to behold. He looked so different and so good. I had gotten so used to the muggle attire that we wore through out the summer that I had forgotten how he looked like in robes, just normal ones like those for school. This of course was much better, more adult like. I wasn't completely sold on the full length dress Lily had bought for herself, but Harry liked it very much.

Drooble had been ecstatic that we decided to wear the robes he had given us. He had been working on them all night to get them the right size, as Harry predicted, and told us that these were new robes. Apparently James's mother had given the order for Drooble to buy new robes every year so that they would have proper clothes available so that they wouldn't have to pack before coming here.

It was a bit of a relieve for me that Lily had never worn this, it would have just been too weird. It was still a bit weird those robes, to posh and to witchy for me but after a hour or so I got used to it. And with Harry looking at me like he wanted to get me out of it as soon as he could I decided that I would be able to like it.

Drooble showed me the catalogue of the store where he was told to order robes, he asked me and Harry what we preferred so he could take that in consideration with his next order.

I had to admit it that I thought all the orders the Potters had given Drooble a bit weird but Harry didn't seem to be bothered and was ready to live his life like a proper Potter.

And according to Drooble being a proper Potter was a lot like being a big headed pure-blood but without the hatred against muggle-borns and the adoration for the dark arts. Although the family wasn't entirely pure the Potters had always been very keen on wizarding etiquettes and a high standard of living.

Drooble explained that the etiquettes were ancient and only Harry's grandparents made changes to them. Still Mrs. Potter had been raised to up hold the traditions and quite a lot had remained with James and Lily.

In the future Harry and I would make changes as well, of that I'm sure but for now we let it go. It was something for after school.

Ron and Hermione arrived while we were eating breakfast. Completely stunned by the outside of the house, they arrived a bit dazed. Drooble had answered the door and had led them to the drawing room where we sat talking about these weird etiquettes.

"Harry, this house is amazing." Hermione breathed as she walked into the room, she was looking around her.

"Yeah, it really is." Harry agreed. Only then did Hermione looked at us. She and Ron stopped in their tracks, their mouth hanging open a bit, both of them gaping at us.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You two…" Hermione started. "You two look so different, so grow-up in those robes."

Harry and I laughed at the crazy statement Hermione made and went to explain why we were wearing those robes. Hermione being a muggle-born looked a bit apprehensive about the whole idea the Potters had about etiquette and good wizards behavior but Harry convinced her that it wasn't at all about the dark arts and pure-blood mania but just old habits.

Drooble invited Ron and Hermione to join the table for breakfast. We ended up staying there until almost midday. The main talk was about the hearing of Mrs. Carrow, which would be held that afternoon. Harry wanted to attend the hearing and Ron suggested he would join Harry.

"Mate, you'll look prefect there in those robes, I always felt a bit out of place in the ministry with muggle clothes on. Like we didn't really belong there. Maybe I should get some wizards robes as well." Ron said as they walked towards the gate. After a quick kiss and the promise that Harry would come to the Burrow after the hearing, no matter how bad it was, they left for the ministry.

Hermione and I stayed at the Summer house to go through the clothes Drooble had bought and showed Drooble what I liked and what I wanted for Harry to wear so he could alter the clothes. I have to admit some of the witch robes Drooble bought were spectacular. They would be perfect for special parties and Christmas.

We lunched at the Summer house before we headed back to the Burrow. Mom, of course, wanted to know all about the house, how it was to stay there and if she could visit sometime this Summer.

After all the drama of the morning before, it was one of the best days of the summer.

A week later Hermione reminded me, unnecessarily, of Harry's birthday, which was approaching fast, and I had no idea what to get him for his birthday. Mom and Dad were planning on giving him a picture album with all the pictures dad had been able to make at Lanzarote and during the years he had been here. It was going to be a beautiful piece of work. Ron and Hermione both bought books when they visited George in Diagon Alley. Both books were about defensive spells and potions for his study to become an auror. But honestly I really didn't knew what to get him.

To make sure I wasn't able to get too stressed out about it I focused my attention to the surprise party we were going to throw for him. Last year his seventeenth birthday fell a bit through with the wedding and the war raging, so we wanted to make it up to him big time this year.

Hermione and I had made a lot of invitations and send it out to all our friends. Hermione and I went back to the Summer house to ask Drooble if he would be able to help out with the food and drinks, we also asked Kreacher. He was going to be there as well so that my mom wouldn't be stuck in the kitchen all day.

Inviting to help out Trinkle had been fun, specially if you take Hermione with you. She was a bit against my idea of letting the elves work but I reasoned with her that the elves would be very happy to finally be able to do something besides cleaning an empty house. When she finally agreed I told her the location of the London house and seconds later we arrived at the friendly looking muggle neighborhood. Hermione fell in love with the house just by viewing it from the outside. Secretly my heart fluttered as I remembered Harry's plan for next Christmas. Hermione would faint.

She also fell in love with Trinkle, the house-elf of course is adorable, but Hermione almost looked at her if she was her child. I was sure Harry's gift would be a welcome one.

Trinkle was delighted to be asked to serve at Harry's birthday and when we told her Drooble would be there as well she smiled widely. I had the feeling she missed Drooble's company, or any company for that matter.

Happy with all the planning going smoothly I had only one thing I worried about, Harry's gift. Even two days before his birthday an idea was still lost to me. I grumbled and muttered all day around while Harry was away. When he got home I tried to pull up my happy face and not letting him know I was troubled, he had worries enough. The case of Mrs. Carrow wasn't going as smoothly as hoped, quite a few witches and wizards were convinced Mrs. Carrow had been under Snape's influence and therefore had been cruel to us. Harry and Kingsley were regularly debating how to convince the others that wasn't the case.

But Harry did notice I was a bit grumpy.

"Ginny, what is wrong?" He asked two days before his birthday.

"Nothing."

"Ginny, you should know by now that you can't lie to me."

I sighed. "It's really nothing seriously Harry, I just don't know what to get you for your birthday."

"That's all?" He asked, for a second I worried what he thought was bothering me but I let it go.

"Yes, that's all. The whole family have brilliant ideas but I can't come up with anything." I muttered angrily.

"I really don't need anything." Harry said as he shook his head.

"Last year I didn't get you anything either, I want to get something properly this year."

Harry looked at me for a while, something was dancing in his eyes, I wasn't sure if he was making fun of me or that he was considering something.

"If I remember correctly, you did give me something last year." Harry mused. With a bright flash of my memory I remembered that short blissful moment just before the world fell apart, the short but intense kiss I gave him in the hope he would remember me during his travels.

"I don't think it would equal a real present." I challenged.

"I think it did, I was able to keep that memory with me even in my darkest moments. I always had you with me."

I smiled at Harry softly, my intuition told me that he was telling the truth, that he really needed those memories during his travels. It felt good to know that he needed me as much as I needed him.

Suddenly his words opened the flush gates of ideas. My brain rattled through a dozen possibilities, resting after a minute on one special idea. It must have shown on my face because Harry groaned softly.

"Ginny, don't make it too much of a fuss, I really don't need anything."

I kissed him lightly and smiled.

"I know, Harry, but I had just the most brilliant idea. Give me a minute I need to talk to Hermione."

I had ran off in search for Hermione. Not surprisingly she was buried in a pile of books at the dinner table.

"What are you reading?" I asked as I skipped to her side.

"Nothing important, but I see you've got something important to discus with me." She smiled as she looked up at me.

"Yes, I have an idea for a gift for Harry, but I need your help. Can you take me to the magical photoshop tomorrow morning in Diagon Alley?"

"Yeah, I haven't got anything planned for tomorrow. What are you up to?"

I sat down and explained whispering what I had come up with. I was happy she thought my idea was brilliant as well and agreed to go along with it.

The next morning we arrived at opening time at the photoshop, the old wizard who ran the place was happy to be at service and promised me my gift for Harry would be ready on time and would be delivered on his birthday.

"Anything to make the great Harry Potter happy." The old wizard had wheezed.

When Harry's birthday arrived I got up really early, everybody besides my mom was still asleep. Mom was baking the cake, it was the only thing she had insisted on doing, Trinkle, Kreacher and Drooble had arrived as well and were helping her making breakfast and the snacks for the party. I explained to the elves that to surprise Harry that afternoon they would have to hide when Harry was downstairs. They understood and disappeared immediately when we heard Harry getting out of bed.

Harry and Ron left as soon as they finished breakfast, they were going to see Kingsley to see if there was any news on Greyback, Harry didn't even give us the chance to wish him a happy birthday. Which left us time enough to prepare the garden and to do the decorations. Kingsley had promised me to keep the boys in his office until two that afternoon and would bring them with him as he was attending the party as well.

My present for arrived shortly before midday. The old wizard came to deliver it personally, I was really happy with how it turned out, it looked absolutely perfect.

Shortly before two, our guests started to arrive, Hagrid and Charlie showed up first, already talking about dragons as they walk through the gate. Luna and Neville arrived together, Seamus, Dean, George, Percy and Audrey, and Bill and Fleur followed them through the gate. Other guests appeared exactly at two, like Andromeda with little Teddy, Professor McGonagall, the Patil sisters, Lee, Katie and Angelina. I even had taken the liberty of inviting Arn Loron and two other ministry wizards that Harry had become close with the last few weeks.

When everything was ready I sighed, Harry could come home now.

I waited at the gate for Ron, Harry and Kingsley. Ron arrived first and hurried towards the party area.

"Harry and Kingsley are coming." He yelled as he ran off.

A sharp crack announced their arrival.

"Kingsley, why did you want to come to the Burrow?" I heard Harry ask.

"You'll see." Was the only thing Kingsley said.

When they rounded to corner, Kingsley waved his wand and a blindfold appeared over Harry's eyes.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"Keep it on Harry, and no cheating." I said as I grabbed his hands and mouthed thanks to Kingsley.

"Ginny? What is going on?"

"Nothing, just trust me." I giggled. I was happy that the party had stayed a secret.

I lead him slowly towards the party area behind the house. Luckily Ron and Hermione had gotten everybody silent.

"Ginny, what is going on?" Harry asked again.

"Just a second."

I let him stop in the center of the group and slowly removed the blindfold. He blinked his eyes a few times before everybody shouted, 'Happy Birthday!'. Harry gasped and looked around. Slowly a sun-blinding smile spread across his face as he saw all his friends around him.

The party had been so much fun, it had been a good call to ask the elves to help out with the food and drinks as both mom and I wouldn't have gotten the time to do anything. We were so busy catching up with all our friends.

Harry spend a lot of time with Luna and Neville, talking about next school year. After that he sat down with Andromeda and Teddy , I didn't join him in that conversation as I knew Harry needed the time alone with Andromeda to talk about Teddy'd future.

Mean while I heard that Parvati and Seamus were now officially a couple, and I found out that Minerva McGonagall was outside the Hogwarts walls a very nice, friendly and open person, we talked longer than I ever considered possible, about the future of Hogwarts and the wizarding world, that we needed new laws to prevent our world from being exposed to the muggles, but also about personal things, like my relationship with Harry, she told me stories about Lily, and how much Harry and I looked like Harry's parents.

"Sometimes it's like I've gone back in time, the only thing missing is Sirius Black making annoying side-marks." She said.

When it was time to tackle the massive pile of gifts Harry blushed tomato red. His humble side was still there and when all the attention turned to him it showed.

Most gifts were books, mainly on defense techniques and on auror training, but some presents were really special, like Neville who had been able to secure tickets for all of six of us for the final Quidditch match of the European league, a game that was held in the south of England. Luna had written a small book with all her memories about Harry.

"I had started it when you left school, I wanted to remember you in case you wouldn't survive it all, but now that you'll live we can spend more time together and I don't need it anymore." Luna had explained, bringing tears to Harry's eyes as he pulled her in a big hug.

My parents gift brought a huge smile to Harry's face when he saw all the pictures from the vacation, but also the ones dad had taken at the Quidditch world cup final and with Christmas. Hargid had taken the liberty to dive into a huge pile of old Prophet news papers and had made a scrapbook from all the news reports about the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore and Harry.

"I have edited it a bit, now only the good or nice stories." Hagrid admitted. "There are stories about the original Order as well. Yer mom and dad, Sirius."

Bill and Fleur had gotten him a bracelet, a sturdy one, gold and silver entwined, it was very classy and the words that were engraved in it made it really Harry, the words said 'Love will conquer all'.

My gift was the last, it was a small box, elegantly wrapped, thanks to Hermione's wand skills. There was no card attached to it, I wanted him to figure out whom it was from when he opened it. I held my breath as he picked up the small package and opened it.

The chain felt out first, after that a small locket baring the Potter crest that I had seen in the Summer house fell out. As Harry opened the locket, his mouth was slightly hanging open. Inside he would find a picture, of me. I had dressed myself in traditional witch robes for that picture, hoping that Harry would like it. The idea behind it was that now when ever things grew dark he always had something with him that would keep him grounded, a reminder to who he was and what he had waiting for him at home.

There were a few other pictures taken but they were too personal to give in front of all our guests.

Harry's eyes met mine, all the emotions clear in the deep green. Within a second he was next to me wrapping his arms around me and his lips meeting mine.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"You're welcome but that's not the complete gift, the rest you'll get later."

Later came very late that night as the younger guests stayed until well after midnight. We had so much fun with Luna, Neville, George and Angelina, Seamus, Parvati, and Padma. Dean had left just before midnight together with a slightly tipsy Bill and Fleur. The talk was mainly about Hogwarts, Greyback and the immediate future, but as the night prolonged the talk became more personal, specially about relationships. Switching between tomato red and laughter we all dealt with moments of embarrassments as nothing was left to be discussed.

When we finally made our way back upstairs I'd swear the rooster was already waking up. Harry and I crashed onto the bed.

"I'm tired." Harry whispered.

"Yeah, me too, but it was worth it."

"Yes, thank you for organizing it, Hermione told me it was all your doing." Harry said as he leaned down to kiss me.

"Hmm, it was to make it up to you, last year your birthday was a bit too small for someone coming of age."

"It was nice to see everybody again." Harry said after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, I didn't knew Seamus had a thing for Parvati." I giggled.

"I didn't knew you could look so cute with a baby in your arms." Harry commented.

I blushed deep red, knowing he was referring to the fact that I had spend a very long time with Teddy in my arms. Somehow it just felt right to hold him, I wasn't really the girl that always wanted kids but with Teddy it was different, he was Harry's godson and in the near future Harry would take up his part as partial caretaker. With Teddy in my arms I had realized that although I was only sixteen I was ready to help Harry with that. Together we would make Teddy's life a little bit better.

"I really like that small boy." I admitted.

"Yes, me too. He's already got his mother's characteristics, turning the color of his hair in bright colors and I swear he was changing his face every now and than. I told Andromeda that I want to be a part in his life, and that after we finish school Teddy would be welcome to spend as much time as he wants with us.

"That would be fun, I can already imagine it. Specially if we spend it in the large gardens of the Summer house. Teddy on a small broom or playing with toys in the warm sunlight."

Harry nodded, I knew he had fallen in love with little Teddy as well. We lay in silence for a long time, at some point I thought Harry had fallen asleep but when I turned to look at him, he was staring at the ceiling.

"What's on your mind?" I asked with a yawn.

"That I really enjoyed this free night, not having to worry."

I knew he was talking about the differences between this party and the last three we had, the Wedding and the last two birthdays Harry had were all marked with fear and worry.

"It's really something we could get used too." I said softly. "but now I like to sleep."

Harry smiled. "I'd loved to but there is something already taking my place in the bed."

"Oh, your gift. I totally forgot it."

I hurried to pull it towards us. It was a package of the size of a book, and I knew it contained five small frames with pictures of me. The large picture was already on the wall in the Summer house. I handed Harry the package silently.

While he opened the gift I took my chance to pull on my pj's and crawled in the bed.

"Ginny, these are beautiful." Harry gasped.

"I hope you'll like the one in the locket the most, these are only for you to see."

"I'll say, I'm sure not letting any other man look at you like this." Harry said as he held up the picture of me in the corset and a long skirt. It was a really sexy picture and it was only because it was a very old man who took that picture that I was able to pull it off.

We spend a bit more time looking at the pictures and talking about them, but sleep got the better of us and soon we drifted off.

The day after Harry's birthday, during a very late breakfast, my mother reminded the whole family that within a fortnight her youngest would come of age. It made her a bit teary and me grumpy as I had hoped to skip the whole birthday thing. I wasn't particular against birthdays but I thought the whole coming-of-age thing was a bit strange, at least for me. I considered myself not yet an adult but of age at the least, I had fought in one of the darkest battle of our world, I had faced dark wizards even more times than my mother, I thought that should be considered more than age.

Of course the others thought very differently. Hermione was already whispered about a party and about presents. I groaned inwardly at the enthusiasm the others showed for my birthday.

The night before my birthday I lay in bed next to Harry, being very annoyed. Nobody wanted to consider that I didn't want the major birthday party, that I would be much more happy spending the time just with an select few.

"Ginny, you only come of age once." Harry reasoned.

I just shoot him an angry glare. Harry kissed away the angriness and sighed a bit.

"Just look at it this way." He started. "last year we were all afraid we would lose everything, including lives. I was afraid to lose you, your parents were afraid to lose their only daughter, your brothers were scared to lose their little sister. Specially in the battle we could have lost so much more than we did now. Is it so weird we want to celebrate this big point in your life when it could have been so easily cut short."

My will power crumbled, Harry knew I had nothing against his words, but I was seriously angry with myself for sighing and giving in.

"I know." I sighed. "It's just feels so wrong, I don't feel that young anymore, coming of age doesn't mean anything to me anymore. Fighting Voldemort and joined the D.A. was my coming of age."

"I know, Ginny. I felt the same after I face Voldemort at the end of my fourth year, but look at all the good stuff. Your mom will lose her power over you, you'll be officially an adult, your own responsibility. You'll be free to do magic and to make your own decisions."

"Being free from mom would be the biggest plus, although I have the feeling things won't change that fast." I said, think realistic. I seriously didn't think that mom would give me free lease immediately.

Harry took the time to kiss all my objects away, along with any anger or nerves I felt. He held me as I fell asleep for the last time as a kid. When I would wake up I'd be officially an adult.

I expected to wake up to kisses and birthday wishes from Harry but instead I woke up alone in an empty bed.

"So much for support today." I grumbled thinking that Harry would have left for the ministry already. Today would be the final verdict of Mrs. Carrow. I was sure Harry wanted to attend that.

I got out and grabbed my wand from under my pillow and headed for my own bedroom. Realizing my new freedom I summoned my clothes and towels and headed for an hot shower to start the day with.

Taking care to look like the adult I now 'officially' was I magically dried my hair, making sure it had a slight curl in it. I took the time to apply a little bit of make up and dressed myself in one of the short summer dresses I had bought with Hermione.

Creeping down the stairs I listened to the sounds coming from the kitchen. It sounded busy, I could hear Hermione and mom talk, but I noticed George was there as well, and Percy. They were all laughing and sounding very happy.

"Ginny!" Somebody whispered from the bottom steps. I looked down and saw Fleur looking up at me. "Can I have a word before you go in?"

"Yes, of course."I sat down on the steps and patted the space next to me. Fleur looked even more her radiant self than normal, she was smiling widely and her eyes were sparkling with happiness. "what's up?"

"I wanted to ask you something." Fleur started apprehensive. "You see I have some news but I don't want it to become the main thing today, you are only coming of age once and I'm afraid that if I shared my…"

"Oh my god! You are pregnant!" I interrupted her, her words had clicked immediately.

"Yes." Fleur nodded humbled.

I pulled her into a hug.

"Oh Fleur, congratulations. I'm so happy for you."

"All thanks to you. Your advise really worked, once I relaxed my whole body felt better."

I smiled at her and hugged her again.

"That's so great. You have to tell mom, she'll faint."

"But what about your birthday, I don't want this news to push away your birthday." Fleur said seriously.

"Fleur, that's really thoughtful of you but I honestly don't care about my birthday."

"But you're coming of age, it's a big thing." Fleur countered.

"Really I came of age the first time I fought the Death Eaters at Harry's side, that was when I grew-up. This is just a birthday for me. You go and tell everybody the big news, I'm more than happy for you and Bill, and I see you are bursting to share it with the world."

"Yes, it was really difficult to keep it from your mom and dad when we arrived." Fleur admitted.

"Well, come on than, lets go and tell them." I said as I got up. I held out my hand to help her up from the small step.

"Oh I totally forgot. Happy birthday, Ginny!" Fleur said as she kissed my cheeks trice.

"Thanks." I giggled. Together, hand in hand we walked into the kitchen. It was a loud rumbled of noise in there as the whole family sat around a too cramped table. I was happy to see that Ron and Harry were still there, maybe I had been wrong about them wanting to attend the verdict.

"Happy Seventeenth!" everybody shouted as they saw me. I blushed a deep red and turned my face away a bit.

Before I could take a breath my mom pulled me in a hug, her wet teary cheek against mine.

"My little girl, seventeen, where has the time gone." Mom cried.

"Yeah, it seems only yesterday she didn't dare to come near Harry, where is that little girl gone to." George said dramatically as he took my moms place.

"Was that necessary." I muttered to him.

"Yes, you are now old enough to take the teasing." George said with a smile.

Ron, Percy and Bill just hugged me and wished me happy birthday. Dad pulled me in his arms and held me for a while.

"Where is the time gone, indeed. You really are a woman now." He whispered. I could hear in his voice that he was just as emotional as mom but he was able to contain it better. "You'll be always my little girl, you know that right?"

I nodded and kissed him on his cheek, earning me a big smile. When I let go of my dad a wave of bushy hair surrounded my face.

"Happy birthday, sister." Hermione squealed. "You'll have great fun today, I'm sure."

I wasn't so sure about that but I smiled anyway to my hearts sister. When I turned towards Harry I saw him standing against the kitchen table. To me he always looked so very handsome, but today there was even more, he looked older, not the teenager anymore but an adult man, even his deep green burned with a different kind of flame. Maybe it was just my perception but I felt things change between us again, if possible I got even more in love with him.

He reached out and pulled me towards him. With his fingertip he lifted my chin and kissed me deeply, just before my knees would start to tremble with the desire and love I felt for him he pulled back.

"Happy birthday, love." He whispered. With two more light kisses he sealed his words.

We were pulled back into reality by George's snickering. Blushing a bit I turned back to my family.

"Come on, lets have breakfast." Mom said as she waved her wand to place the food on the table. Everybody sat down chatting happily and placing their gifts for me in front of me. The pile grew and grew but I noticed Harry didn't place something on the pile, it intrigued me, what was he up to?

While mom placed food on everybody's plates I picked up the first present, it was from Percy and Audrey.

"Perce, where is Audrey?" I asked while I opened the gift.

"She had to work early, she started her internship at the ministry early this year. She hoped she would make it up to you by picking out a good gift." He said pointing to the small box I held in my hand.

Curiously I opened the box, it looked like a jewellery box only bigger. Inside there was a square piece of parchment. I picked it up and read it. It was a pass for five people to the witches spa and relax resort in London.

"Audrey had hoped you would like a girls day out before you got back to Hogwarts." Percy explained.

"That's really sweet. Thanks Percy, and say thanks to Audrey."

The next gift was from Hermione and of course it was a book but surprisingly it was a really good book, it was about Quidditch and it explained into detail flying techniques and training schedules. It was a massive book but it contained a lot of flying patterns and techniques I had never heard off. Ron's gift was a gift-card for the Quality Quidditch supplies in Diagon Alley.

Fleur handed her and Bill's gift personally to me. It was a jewellery box, and it looked really expensive. I slowly opened it. Inside there was a set of small beautiful Goblin-made earrings. It was silver and embedded with small sapphires.

"Wow, Fleur, Bill, this is so beautiful."

"They were my grandmothers, she gave them to me when I turned seventeen, I never wore them but I want you to have them, as a thank-you for what you have done for me and Bill." Fleur said solemnly. I got up and pulled her in a hug again, I was really speechless, a year ago I had never expected that Fleur and I would really become like sisters, but I had the feeling that this was just the start of a deep friendship.

George's gift was beautiful as well, he had taken the liberty to buy me a new school bag, it was at least a dozen times more expensive than my old one, it was decorated with Gryffindor colors and made with dragon leather.

The last present was a large parcel from mom and dad. There wasn't a supplier name on it so I couldn't guess what it was from the name. I tugged the roped slowly and opened it. Inside I found a witch robe of beautiful fabric, it wasn't completely satin but it felt the same, it was the same dark blue color as the sapphires in the earrings. I pulled it out the wrappings and held it up. It was a dress with matching winter cloak, it wasn't like the old fashion long dresses, this one reached my knees, it had a slim waist, a deep cut neckline and collar was standing up slightly, the body was decorated with embroidery and a few well placed beads. It was absolutely fantastic. The cloak had a higher collar and the hem was decorated the same as the dress.

"Wow, mom, dad, this is really beautiful, and the cloak too." I whispered.

"I expected you didn't want the traditional long dress. So I asked madam Malkin for something more modern."

"It's perfect." I breathed. "I'll wear it today." I promised her, it was a special day after all.

"Ginny, I don't think that would be wise." Harry said thoughtfully.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because for this afternoon you'd need to wear something a bit more muggle like." Harry smiled secretively.

"And you are not going to tell why, are you?"

"No, not yet. What I am going to tell you is that this afternoon you are expected at the ministry for your Apparition exam."

"What!" I gasped.

"Your seventeen now, you can apparate now, after you had the test." Harry shrugged.

"When do we have to be at the ministry?" I asked, still a bit shaky from that surprise, I had all but forgotten about the apparition test.

"Around two. And after that we are going to have some fun for your birthday."

"We'll come as well, Ginny, we will support you." Hermione said.

"You'll have to help me, I don't think I ever paid enough attention during the lessons, I was more busy with trying to hex the Slytherins."

"We'll look into it after breakfast." Hermione promised.

We ate our breakfast quickly because the eggs were getting cold. Mom cleared the table and went to grab coffee and tea. Suddenly Fleur stood up and rushed to the sink, she was suddenly violently sick.

"Oh goodness." Mom gasped. She walked to Fleur quickly and held her hair out of her face. Hermione conjured a glass of water for her and placed it next to the sink on the counter.

"Thanks." Fleur muttered as she cleaned her mouth.

"Are you alright, dear." Mom asked as she helped Fleur back to her chair.

"Yes, yes. It's been like this for a few days now." She said. Bill rubbed her back softly, he looked a bit worried.

"Maybe you should go to a healer." Dad suggested.

"I have been to St. Mungo's two days ago." Fleur said. There was a bit more color on her face as she smiled softly.

"What did the healer say?" mom asked.

Fleur looked at me for a conformation that she could tell her news today, I smiled as nodded. Than her eyes turned to Bill who was smiling happily.

"The healer said that I was…pregnant."

"What!" mom yelled, it made us all jump up.

Fleur just smiled happily at her. When the words finally sank in mom and Hermione were squealing and dad was hugging Bill. It was like one big party. Mom was beyond herself when she realized that in less than a year she would be a grandma. She was dancing and singing around the kitchen.

"I thought you said you didn't want to be a grandma yet." I teased her.

"That was meant for you, even at seventeen it's a bit to young to be a mother." She said giddily. Having mom in a good mood was making the house a much more pleasurable place to stay in.

Bill and Fleur left after they drank their coffee, both had to work, Percy and Dad went to the ministry to continue their hunt for Greyback, something almost every ministry worker was still working on. We helped mom with cleaning the table, something that went much more quicker when you can do it with your wand, and after that Hermione and I went to go over the apparition techniques. Somewhere deep down I knew I could do it but I was still a bit nervous.

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**Please review...**


	28. Birthday surprises part 2

_**Thank you so much for the reviews...I have tried to answer most of you but my laptop is a bit annoying to me and it isn't always going smootly... please keep on sending reviews, I really like them...**_

_**Up is Ginny's birthday, gifts, dates, friends and a small lemon at the end...Enjoy!**_

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**28 Birthday surprises. Part 2**

I don't know why I was so nervous for the apparition exam, it really had been a piece of cake. We had arrived at the ministry a bit early and while I did my exam with a group of five other seventeen year old witches and wizards, Harry, Ron and Hermione went to the courtroom to witness the final verdict of Mrs. Carrow.

The exam itself had been one of the more simple I had been in. We were taken into a large hall and at either end there was a hoop, the task was simple, move from hoop to hoop without leaving any part of yourself behind.

I was finished before Harry and the others returned. Smiling to myself I made my way down to the courtroom, the day had started out with a lot of surprises, I was wondering how many more would follow.

As I reached the courtroom everybody was just coming out of. It was clear that most of the witches and wizards looked happy, I hoped that was an indication of the fact that Mrs. Carrow had indeed be sentenced to a long time in Azkaban.

I waited at the door for Harry, Ron and Hermione. When they finally came out five minutes later they all looked very serious and my hopes sank to the floor. Together with Kingsley they were talking in hushed tones as they left the room. It sounded like a heated discussion.

"Harry!" I called and skipped to his side.

"Hey, how did it go?" he said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Perfect, and here?"

"Good, good. Mrs. Carrow got what she deserved."

I sighed in relieve.

"Than why are you all looking like you are heading for a funeral?" I demanded.

"Because today it has been made clear that although the physical battle has been fought, there are still a lot of wizards and witches who think we should give ourselves the freedom to venture out in the muggle world and become the real leaders of this world." Kingsley said quietly.

"What?" I gasped.

"People always followed Dumbledore and trusted his wisdom. Now with that book about him being read all over the world, people see that Dumbledore wasn't the muggle champion they always thought. Now that they know that even Dumbledore had once given muggle domination a serious thought, they are thinking perhaps that it the best way to move forward." Kingsley explained further.

"Oh no." I groaned. "What's wrong with people these days. First the war, than Greyback being an ass and now this."

"I know, it feels like this whole crazy thing is never going to end." Harry said.

"You shouldn't worry about it too much. Next week I have a meeting with my colleagues from all over the world about this. Most of them have the same feelings as us about this, we'll work it out. The only problem you all might have is at school next month, a lot of kids are been told this nonsense by their parents. It might cause some uneasy situations." Kingsley said.

"Urgh." I groaned again. I was so fed up with people fighting and bickering. The wizarding world had been living happily in secret for more than a thousand years, but every so many years there were always a few who thought they knew better. Somehow I had hoped that people finally had learned something.

"Don't worry so much about it Ginny, go have fun today. Have a nice birthday." Kingsley said as we reach the atrium.

"Thanks, Kingsley." I said with a smile. I followed out Harry and the others to the streets of London. Outside it was a nice warm day, like it been the whole summer, the sun was shining and small clouds dotted the sky.

"Ready to celebrate your birthday properly." Harry asked as he grabbed my hand. This time he really smiled, his eyes were dancing with fun.

"And what did you have in mind?"

"First we are going to pick out your present." Harry said. It made Ron and Hermione giggle and I started to worry about what he had in store for me. On our way to the Leaky cauldron my mind raced over a thousand possibilities, most of them were dismissed easily but one stuck in my mind and terrified me. '_he isn't going buy me a ring, is he?_' raced through my head. My logical part told me that he wasn't, I knew that someday he would but not yet, but than again Ron's and Hermione's giggles made me very nervous.

We passed through the Leaky Cauldron quickly and walked out into a very cheery looking Diagon Alley. The ice-cream parlour was still closed, but that was the only shop that remembered us of the dark times.

"Now, I had been thinking about taking you there." Harry said as he pointed to the jewellery store. "but I think you don't want to do that just now. So I have to wait a few more years for that."

I sighed in relieve, which made Ron and Hermione laugh.

"That's what I thought." Harry murmured a bit sadly.

He slowly pulled me through all the shoppers, sometimes people recognized us and waved at Harry. He always gave a friendly smile back. Suddenly Harry took a turned and dragged me into one of the stores. I had to take a few seconds to realize where we were. Quality Quidditch Suppliers.

I looked up at Harry but before he could explain anything the owner of the store walked towards us.

"Ah, mister Potter, welcome." He said as they shook hands, he also said hello to Ron and Hermione. Than he turned to me.

"Miss Weasley, I hope that you have had a very nice birthday already. My many wishes." The old man said as he kissed the top of my hand.

"Yes, I have, thank you." I blushed.

"Come, come, I have few items laid out for you." He said excitedly.

I looked at Harry, but he just nodded and took my hand to follow the old man to the back of the store. There was a bit more of a secluded section, a bit tugged away from the main displays. It that corner stood a large table with long packages stacked on top of it.

The owner waved his wand and five glasses of fire-whiskey appeared on the table.

"As a celebration toast to your seventeenth birthday, miss Weasley." He said as he raised his glass. After we all had toasted he turned to the packages.

"Now, mister Potter said that you could pick one out yourself, but I have made a selection for you, these are only the best we sell. Take your time with them, if you want to see any other models or have any questions let me know and I'll help you out. The catalogue is over there, it contains all the models we currently have available." The owner said and disappeared.

Slowly his words started to sink in, we were in a Quidditch store, in front of me lay long small packages, and the owner talked about models. Than it hit me, with a squeal I turned to Harry.

"I wondered why it was taking so long." I heard Ron mutter.

"Harry, you didn't?" I gasped.

"You can have which ever model you like, if you really want to try and become a professional Quidditch player than you need a good broom."

I reached up and kissed him, than I turned back to the table and picked up the first package.

I opened the box slowly, on the top lid of the box was written 'Firebolt, V2.'. It was the newest Firebolt, newer than the one Harry had.

I looked into the box and there it was. The Firebolt, dark polished handle, perfect formed tail, it was almost the same as the one Harry had but more sleek looking. I took it out of the box and held it in my hand. It was very light for a broom, perfectly balanced, it looked so beautiful and I could feel the power of it running through my fingers.

I laid it back into the box and took the next one. A Cleansweep, the newest version, not as sleek as the Firebolt but a bit more sturdy, still looking very professional. I placed it next to the Firebolt so I could compare later.

The next package was the Comet-speed broom. It was thin with a flat but wider tail, it weight almost the same as the Cleansweep but it looked very different.

The last package contained a broom I had never heard of before. The Lightning-1. It looked a lot like the Firebolt, the same powerful magical current flowed through my fingers as I took it in my hands. The difference was in the tail, it looked like this broom's steering would be it's major advantage.

I laid all four brooms next to each other and looked at them. They were all beautiful.

"I don't know which one to choose." I muttered.

"They all look prefect." Harry said as he let his eyes wander over the brooms.

"Maybe I can help." The owner had returned to see how we were doing.

"Please." I nodded.

"Okay, the Firebolt, is still the fastest broom in the world, specially this new lighter version, but that one is specially made with Seekers in mind, it's light and easy to steer but when you are a chaser or beater the broom might be too light and easily pushed off its course. And that's the main difference between the Firebolt-V2 and the Lightning-1. The Lightning is almost as fast as the new Firebolt but holds it own better in the contact situations or in severe weather conditions. It's made specially for Chasers a bit more stable.

The Cleansweep and the Comet are more the standard brooms, they can be used by any kind of player but specially the Beaters and Keepers benefit from their sturdiness. You won't be blown out the way easily."

That was seriously something to consider. I knew I could be a seeker, I was small build and light and had the eye for it but I really felt more at home as a chaser. It was the teamwork that went with chasing that I loved, as a seeker you were always on your own.

"What do you think?" I asked Harry.

"Depends on what you want. Do you want to play Seeker next year or Chaser?"

"I think that depends on if I'm selected for the team or not first."

"You don't have to worry about that, McGonagall asked me to give you this."

Harry opened his hand, inside it was a gleaming badge, holding the Gryffindor coat of arms and a broom underneath it.

"She made me captain?" I asked in awe.

"Yes." Harry nodded with a smile. "So you can choose the position you want to play, it's up to you."

I sat down a bit shaky, this were too many surprises in a short time. Harry placed the badge in my hand. I looked at it, it felt real in my hand but it didn't seem to get through to my brain. I turned the badge over few times as I stared at the brooms. _What did I want?_ It was a difficult question to ask myself.

It took me the better part of ten minutes to think it all through, but finally I came to a conclusion.

"I think I'll take the Lightning-1, I really enjoy playing as Chaser but if needed I can play Seeker on that one as well, it will still be one of the newest brooms at Hogwarts anyway."

"But what about when you will be trying out for the professional teams?" Hermione asked.

"That won't be a problem." The shop owner said. "For the next world cup three teams have already switched from the Firebolt to the Lightning. They consider it's stability more of an advantage as its speed."

Ten minutes later we walked out the store, me being the happy owner of a new Lightning-1, which would be specially modified to my length and weight.

"Harry, you are crazy, you know that right. That broom costs a fortune." I said as I kissed his cheek for the thousand time as a thanks.

"Actually, this is only the start of the day, but the rest of it is less expensive. I promise." Harry said with a smile.

"There is more?" I asked shocked.

"Oh yes. We are going to have a day out like muggles do for their birthday." Harry laughed as he held the door to the Leaky Cauldron open for me. Inside, Neville and Luna were sitting at a table, both perfectly dressed in muggle clothes, only Luna's colors didn't match.

"Hey Ginny, happy birthday." Luna said happily as she got up and hugged me. she handed me a small package which contained a self-made bracelet. It was really cute.

"Happy Birthday, Ginny." Neville said as he also handed me a small gift. Surprisingly he added a hug and two kisses with his wish. Neville had really gone through a transformation last year, he was no longer the shy self-conscience guy that he had been. His gift was a small pin. It was a phoenix that flew away.

"I thought it would be something to remember who we fought for." He muttered.

"Dumbledore's Army." I whispered. I hugged Neville again and whispered "thanks"

Hermione got us some drinks and we all sat down chatting about the amazing gift Harry had bought for me. Both Neville and Luna like Quidditch very much so the knew what they talked about. After fifteen minutes Hermione whispered something in Harry's ear which made him look on his watch.

"It's time to go." Harry told us.

"Where are we going?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, I like to know that as well." I said loudly.

Harry laughed at my antics and pulled me in a hug.

"Well Hermione and I though it would be fun to take you all to a cinema, to watch a movie. Muggles do that all the time, for fun or to have a small party. I thought we could do that as well. Integrate a little, sort off."

"What's a cinema?" Ron asked, clearly he hadn't been involved in all the planning.

"You'll see." Harry said secretively.

We walked through the muggle part of London, following Hermione who seem to know her way through London like it was her back pocket. Neville and Ron battered Harry into telling them what a cinema was but Harry didn't gave in.

"Do you know what a cinema is?" Luna asked me.

"No idea." I said. "Do you?"

"I have an idea, but I might be completely wrong."

"And you are not going to tell her, we will be there in a few minutes." Harry told Luna.

We rounded the corner onto a very busy street. A lot of people were walking around, and cars raced by. It was too noisy for my liking, I'd enjoyed the silence of the brooms and the apparition. Hermione stopped in front of a very large building that had posters covering every wall. Hermione turned to us and looked very seriously.

"I have to say this before we go in and you have to remember it, no matter what. There is nothing going to happen to us, this is completely safe, everything you see is fake. So please don't panic or draw wands, muggles do this all the time and I don't think anybody got out hurt or anything."

It was a bit ominous when she said it like that but Luna summed it up perfectly.

"We know you and Harry will never put us in danger without saying so."

Hermione smiled and we walked in. Inside there was the huge atrium, smaller as that of the ministry but still it was big. To the left people were standing inline waiting for something. Hermione mentioned us to join the line.

"Hermione, Ron and I are going to get drinks and snacks, it's showed in room four, we'll see you at the entrance, okay?" Harry asked as he handed her a stack of muggle money.

"Yes, but just juice for me, and don't for get the popcorn."

"What's popcorn?" Neville asked in a whispered.

"It's a snack made from corn, I really like the sweet version of it with sugar but it's also available with salt." Hermione explained.

"Hermione, what exactly are we going to do here?" I asked.

"Okay, I think it's okay I'll tell you now. We are going to watch a movie, it's a story told by moving pictures. Most of them are fairy tales and everything you see is fake but if you concentrate on it, it's like you really live it through with the characters."

"Oh, I was right, Dad had told me about it but I thought it was just a story." Luna said happily.

The row in front of us quickly got shorter and soon we faced a glass wall with a few holes in it and a lady behind it.

"Can I have six tickets for Armageddon, please." Hermione asked. I wondered if the lady heard her but the woman behind the glass smiled and pulled out six small papers. Hermione paid with the muggle money and told us to follow.

"Hermione, what is Armageddon?" I asked.

"That's the name of the movie we are going to see. It supposed to be really good and has both action and romance in it."

I have to tell you, it was all very weird. I didn't fully understood what it was we were going to do and besides that this was a muggle place full of electricity and flashing things, I felt a bit out of place.

Some of the stress I started to feel left me when I saw Harry waiting for us next to a door. I think he noticed I started to stress out a bit because he pulled me in his arms and kissed me softly.

"Stop worrying." Harry muttered, but it was easy said than done. Specially when we walked through the door into a semi dark room. It reminded me a bit to much of the room with the archway in which Sirius had died, even more when we took a few steps down. It was a scary feeling, ominous really.

I noticed there were rows of very comfortable looking seats and Hermione lead us through one of those rows to the middle of the room.

"These are our seats." She said happily.

Harry sat down next to me and Luna on the other side. Silently he took my hand and squeezed it.

"Are you excited?" He asked.

"A little, I don't know what is going to happen."

"See those curtains?" Harry asked as he pointed to the middle of the room. I nodded.

"When it all starts they will open, like with a theatre or show, only behind it is a screen. A movie is a string of moving images that are shown on that screen, together they tell a story."

I tried to understand it but I couldn't quite grasp the right idea, I guessed that I had to wait and see for myself.

"Ginny, you have to try this, it's really good." Ron said as he held a box with strange looking things in front of me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Popcorn." Harry explained.

I took a few out the box and tried them. It wasn't bad, I'm not really a big fan of sweets and the popcorn was really sweet.

"Not bad." I decided.

After a few minutes the lights went out and we were sitting in a complete dark room. Some muggles around us were whispering. Suddenly there was a lot of noise and flashing images in front of me.

I heard Ron yelp and I saw Luna's had twitching towards her wand. Harry squeezed my hand again, letting me know everything was okay. The relaxed smile on his face calmed me down even further.

"Just watch." Hermione said loud enough for us to hear.

It took a while for me to relax but when it began I quickly settled into the incredible story. It was beautiful the images, the actors, the story and the sound, I couldn't believe muggles had been able to create it.

Don't get me wrong, I have no thoughts of being better than muggles but is was like magic. It was a bit confusing, somehow I thought a wizard had to be behind this. When I took a brake from watch the screen I looked at Neville and Luna, they both looked equally in awe.

The images continued for almost an hour and a half before the light turned on again and people started to talk.

"Wow." Ron breathed.

"Yeah, you can say that." Neville said equally stunned.

"The end was so sad." Luna sniffled.

I agreed with her, although the story had been a scary one, about a giant rock killing muggles, the end was so sad. I had a few tears in my eyes as well.

Hermione and Harry lead us out of the room, once outside we all took a deep breath.

"Did you like it?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, it's amazing to think that muggles can create something like that without magic. And it is really hard to believe that it isn't real, it all looked really real. Weird."

Harry smiled happily at me.

"I had never been to the cinema before." He confessed.

"But I thought you said muggles do that all the time."

"They do, the Dursley's just never took me with them. I wanted to see it for myself and Hermione thought it would be a nice thing to do for your birthday."

"It was, it was really nice. Weird but nice."

Walking back to the Leaky Cauldron, Neville, Ron and Harry loudly discussed the movie. We weren't able to get between them. I wondered if Harry had more things planned, it was getting dark already and mom would expect us back for dinner, or at least I thought so.

As we entered the shabby inn I turned to say goodbye to Luna and Neville but Harry just walked on, out the other end to Diagon Alley.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I ran to catch up with him.

"Dinner."

"But mom…"

"Your mother isn't expecting us back for dinner, they all know about our plans."

"Your plans you mean." I grumbled. I started to feel a bit left out, the whole day everybody knew what was happening except for me. I wasn't really good with surprises, it made me edgy. Harry didn't say anything to my mumbling, I think he was having too much fun with the surprise he had in store for me.

"What else did you got for your birthday?" Luna asked as we walked down Diagon Alley.

"Oh, a lovely set of goblin-made earrings from Bill and Fleur, mom and dad bought me a beautiful robe and cloak, George got me a new schoolbag, it's beautiful. Ron a gift-card, and Hermione a book, of course."

"Of course." Luna agreed.

"Oh and, Percy and Audrey got me tickets for the spa."

"Oh, that sounds so lovely." Luna said cheery. I nodded in agreement.

Before we could talk any further Harry stopped in front of a restaurant.

"Your father told me that this is a good restaurant. Shall we find out if he's right?" Harry said as he opened the door for us. I was happy to see that it wasn't a very fancy place, I had gotten a bit scared as we had walk further down the street that he was taking us to some posh restaurant but this was more like me. Dotted all over the place we tables and chairs, candles were flouting just above them.

A witch appeared at the door, she was looking at us for a second, when she noticed Harry her eyes widened and her mouth slightly opened.

"Good evening, can I help you." She asked, smiling as wide as possible.

"Oh, yes, I made reservations." Harry said.

"May I asked your name." The witch asked. She was smiling way to friendly to him for my liking. Her eyes were flirting with him like crazy and it was really inappropriate. I stepped up next to Harry and wrapped my arms around him. I like to think that I'm not the jealousy type of a person but it irked me non the less. She noticed and glared at me for a second but Harry just kissed my hair and noticed nothing.

"I made reservations under the name of Weasley." Harry told her.

Her face fell a bit as she looked at the schedule. Quickly Harry wrapped his arms around me and held my arms in one place. What did he think? That I would waste energy hexing this low piece of a witch. I smiled up at Harry and he winked at me.

The witch lead us to a large table in the far end of the dinner. It was a secluded area where we would be able to talk freely.

"Why did you make reservations under the Weasley name?" Ron asked as he sat down.

"Being overly cautious I think." Harry shrugged. "I just didn't want to give Greyback or Rita or any other dark wizard a chance to make plans to disturb us. If people knew we were here they might be making a fuss. The Weasley name is safer."

"Do you think that's a possibility?" Neville asked, "That Greyback would want to attack you or any of us if he knew where we are." It was a testimony to his change that he didn't sound nervous at all.

"Yes." Harry nodded. "Greyback wants revenge, and he thinks he will get that by attacking me. Or any of you just to get to me. He really doesn't like me."

"So the report about the letter is true?" Neville asked

Harry just nodded.

The menu's appeared on the table, killing that conversation effectively. On top of the menu it explained how to order drinks and food, and below there were three rows with food options. We ordered our food and two bottles of wine. It turned out that Neville and Luna both did enjoy drinking wine as well. With the wine served the conversations followed quickly.

"So you are also all going back to finish school?" Luna asked.

"Yes, it would be nice to have some more time at Hogwarts." Hermione said.

"Oh, we are going to have so much fun. It would be a great year, having friends around."

"I just hope that it still feels like home. Like it did before all the real drama started." Harry said.

"It will, mate. I'm sure Luna is right we are going to have fun." Ron said happily.

We all agreed, we hoped it would be the best year ever.

"What do you think will happen to the wizarding world now?" Neville asked Harry.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there are already dark wizards claiming the top position and my grandma heard that inside the ministry people are doubting that our world should stay hidden. Gran says that with that book about Dumbledore and his letters people will start to question every decision made."

"We have lived in peace for thousand of years like this. With the exception of a few nutters. I don't see any reason to change that." Ron said seriously.

"Me too, I just hope people would just go and live in peace. I really don't want any trouble any more. I really have had enough." Harry said, he sounded tired.

"I don't really think it will be that simple." Hermione sighed.

"Dad, says that it will take a long time before the wizarding world finally calms down and settles back into what it was. There is so much old pain." Luna said a bit dreamlike.

"Yeah, people will have to deal with all the pain and bad memories first." Hermione agreed.

Our food appeared but the conversation continued between bites.

"I just wish we could just be and not having to worry about what might be coming. We have never known any better than that." I said.

"All we can do is be prepared and enjoy our lives." Neville said wisely.

We all nodded and focused on our food. When we finished the first course our plates disappeared and were replaced by a small loaf of bread for between the courses. Our glasses refilled themselves happily and the conversation shifted to the immediate future.

"I forgot to tell you all." Neville started.

"What's up?" Ron said as he cut off a bit of the bread.

"I got a letter from madam Sprout." Neville said happily.

"What did it say?" I asked.

"You can't tell this to anybody but she writes that she's getting old and sore. She's thinking about retiring. She says she want some good quality years of her life traveling around and enjoying the warm weather. She asks me if I'm interested in becoming her protégé."

"That's like when you be trained to become a teacher?" Hermione gasped.

"Yes, she asks if I'm interested in being trained after I finish my NEWTS."

"What did you wrote her back?" Harry asked, he seemed really happy for his friend.

"Nothing yet, I just got the letter this morning."

"What will you do?" I asked.

"Dunno." Neville shrugged. "I really love the plants and working with them, it's useful and interesting but I'm not sure if I can do teaching."

"I'm sure madam Sprout will be able to teach you that, it's a brilliant chance." Harry told him.

"I know, but I'll never be as good in teaching as you were in the D.A." Neville blushed slightly.

"Ow, come on Neville, I just told you all what I knew, and I was able to see the mistakes you were making, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to do the same." Harry argued.

"Yeah, Neville, you even helped me through Herbology last year." I said to back up Harry. Neville had indeed been a great help in Herbology. I wasn't sure why I had kept the subject in my sixth year but it had filled the gaps of too much time to get in trouble nicely. Still I wasn't really good at it and Neville helped me scrapping a few extra points.

Neville blushed even more.

"So you guys think that I should do it."

"If it's what you want than, yes." Hermione said sweetly to him.

Slowly a smile spread across his face, and he nodded.

Dinner continued with chatting happily about the future and sometimes about the past year, specially when Harry told Luna and Neville about the verdict of Mrs. Carrow. After all the discussion she had been send to Azkaban after all. For all of us it was a relieve that after a school year like that there was finally some justice. It made the dinner only more festive.

I told Luna about Fleur's big news, and we talked a little about boys. Luna wasn't willingly giving up what kind of guy she liked, we had to drag it out of her. In the end I concluded it wasn't worth it, we would find out when she finally fell in love.

The whole dinner was perfect, it established our group even more as really close friends. We trusted each other completely and were able to talk freely about anything. When it was time to leave, we agreed to see each other again before school started.

We said goodbye and Harry took my hand and smiled at me.

"Ready?"

"Don't you think I would be allowed to apparate myself now?" I said as I raised my eyebrows.

"Not today, I'm not done with the surprises." Harry smiled and turned on the spot, pulling me along with him.

A few seconds later my feet slammed into a now familiar dirt road just outside a gate. The path up to the house was lit with a few torches, making it look like a fairytale. I felt a smile spreading across my face.

"Come on." Harry said with a smile as he pulled me through the gate.

"Mom knows we are staying here?" I asked.

"Yes."

"And she didn't put up a good fight?"

"No, not really. I just told her that I would bring you back tomorrow. Some time after we would wake up." His voice was suddenly more sensual than it had been. I dared a glance up to his face, his eyes were dark and sparking with fire. I felt the heat from that fire spreading through my body, it had been a few weeks since we were alone. The sudden need made me groan.

Drooble held the door open for us as we reached the porch, he stayed long enough to say hello and ask if we needed anything. As soon as he disappeared Harry grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close to him.

"I love you." He whispered. His lips were bushing the kiss just below my jaw. It made me tremble.

"I love you back." I moaned.

His hands steadily made their down to the hem of my dress. His lips reached for mine, happy to reply I pulled him into a deep kiss.

"Did you have a good birthday?" He whispered against my lips.

"Hmmm, I hope it's not over yet." I murmured. I pressed myself against him, letting him know that I wanted to take advantage of the fact that we were really alone for once. Aside from the vacation and the day we spend here we hadn't really been alone much, not enough to actually have some time to explore each other.

I missed the really intimate moments, we had been sleeping in the same room together, and we had been able to really talk in those dark hours, but nothing compared to the intimacy of sex. It was something on a completely different level than when we took the time to really talk. My heart and body yearned for the intimate moments.

Making our way up the stairs, our lips never parted. Soft light from the floating candles made it all more romantic in some way.

Once in the bedroom Harry pressed me against the door, his hands on both sides of my head he stared in my eyes, making me drowning the that burning green flame. I don't know why he was looking so intensely, but my body seemed to enjoy it. For a long time he seemed content with just looking at me. I didn't even dare to take a breath in fear to break the tension.

Harry's breathing became more rough with every second that passed. Suddenly he moved one hand down over my shoulder, tracing the seam of my dress he searched for the hem. When he found it he slowly pulled it up. Pulling it over my head and throwing it in the corner. His constant stare kept me from moving it was too intense. I felt his hand on my stomach, slowly his fingers were making circles.

I can't honestly remember when or how I lost my bra and panties, but after a few minutes of being completely lost in his eyes and touches I was standing naked in front of him. That was when he finally broke his intense stare and kissed me. I felt his lips parting and I answered pulling him deeper into the kiss.

"Next school year is going to be so hard." Harry whispered as his fingers played with my hair.

"Why?" I asked, a bit shocked at this sudden line.

"Because we won't be able to be alone. I won't be able to touch you like this." To further press his point his hand moved to my breast and slowly massaged it.

"Hmmm, I think we'll find a way." I murmured softly.

"I missed these moments with you."

"Me too, I need you more often like this." I admitted.

Harry smiled softly, his lips just brushing mine.

Finally my body was able to move again and taking advantage off that I quickly removed Harry's clothes. I let my hands roam over his chest, he was so warm, almost boiling. Harry moaned as my fingers played with his weak spots.

Suddenly he lost control of himself, with his whole body he pushed me back against the door, his lips consuming mine, and his fingers playing with my breast. I wrapped my arms around him trying to pull him closer, I felt his excitement pressing against the lower part of my stomach. It made me quiver with excitement to feel him so hard.

I let my lips roam his neck and nibbled on the soft skin there. I felt his hand moving over my leg reaching for my knee. Suddenly he lifted my leg up and slung it around his hip.

"I want you." He whispered.

"Than take me." I moaned back. He didn't need to be told twice, he lifted me up a little and entered me with one hard push. It felt so incredible, trapped between him and the door, it made me feel completely in his control. I wrapped my other leg around him as well, without much trouble his arms were able to hold me. Our eyes met and all the longing, love and emotions flowed between us. This was what we needed, this was what centered us, this was us in the purest form.

Kissing me with deep passion his movements became rough and fast. It was something I had been dreaming off for a while, to let him take me like this. His own pace, his own movements, just what he liked. What I didn't expected that the knowledge of him being with me like this to give himself great pleasure would be only adding to my own.

"Oh, Harry, please don't ever stop this." I moaned as I felt his hard cock hitting all the right places inside me. Everything was perfect in that moment, his soft grunt every time he pumped into my wet warmth, his lips moving over my neck, his arms around me, the feeling of being connected the oldest way, physically and mentally, for we knew each others soul in those moments of great pleasure.

Breathing deeply Harry grabbed me tightly and carried me to the bed. When he lay me down he stared at me for a moment.

"What are you thinking?" I asked in a whispered.

"How such a small woman could have so much influence over me."

"What do you mean?"

"Just with three words you destroy all my plans."

"Like what?"

"I had planned on making love to you." He said as he slowly moved towards me. "I wanted to adore you, like I should, I wanted to please you, like you deserve. I wanted to take things slowly and let us enjoy the long hours of the night. But you just said three words, and I fall apart."

His stare got intense again, his eyes burning as they roamed my naked body.

"Who says we can't still do that?" I asked with a wicked smile.

Harry smiled wickedly and joined me on the bed.


	29. Back to School

_**Wow, quick writing, I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I actually cried...! (maybe that gives you some clue) **_

_**I'm keeping it short...have fun reading it and don't forget to REVIEW!**_

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**29. Back to School**

"Hey Ginny! I saved you all Seats."

"O hey, Neville. Thanks." I said as I sat down in the compartment.

"Where are the others?"

"Harry, Ron and Hermione are battling their way through a train full of admires, they will be here soon. I haven't seen Luna yet."

"I'm sure Harry is enjoying all the attention." Neville snickered.

"Yeah, He'll glow when he gets here." I laughed.

We waited for a few minutes but when it became clear that the other wouldn't show up soon Neville and I relaxed in our seat.

"Did you have a good last week of this summer?" Neville asked. He had been visiting us with his grandma just a week before. Telling the great news that he finally decided to become professor Sprout's protégé. His grandmother had been so proud. After that we had visited the Quidditch match Neville gave Harry tickets for. Harry, thanks to his status as the most famous wizard, had been allowed to take us all on just two tickets. It was the first and last time he abused his status but the six of us had an amazing night.

"Yeah. It was too short thought."

"We just had four month holiday. That's anything but short." He chuckled. "did you do anything special?"

"yeah, we went to the spa, Audrey got me tickets, remember."

"Oh yeah, who did you take with you?"

"Fleur, Hermione, Audrey and Luna."

"Luna? What about your mom, wasn't it supposed to be a Weasley girl day out?"

"Yeah, initially but mom chickened out, saying a spa wasn't her thing."

Neville laughed about that, over the last few weeks, since Harry's birthday, he had gotten almost a part of out family. He was always welcome and Harry even had taken him to the Summer house, together with Ron, to have some boy time out.

"Was it fun?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was a good girl bonding thing, and I learned that being pampered isn't that bad. And I learned a lot about the other girls."

"Like what?"

"Well, Audrey, although she is dating the biggest nerd in the world, is actually really cool. She plays Quidditch, and she and her dad go hunting every year together. Oh and Fleur, isn't actually as spoiled as you might think, she had only been in a spa once. And Hermione, can actually fail to give a correct answer, but you need to give her a massage and herb-bath first."

Neville chuckled.

"I heard you have been practicing for the future as well?" he said.

"What?"

"You and Harry, babysitting Teddy."

"Urgh, Andromeda is just as a gossiping granny as your grandmother."

"That's were I got it from. So how did it go?"

"Really well actually. Teddy is so cute, and once you figure out what the different looks mean you'll be able to take care of him. It took some getting used to bottle feeding and magically change diapers but besides that we had a good evening with the little boy. He slept in Harry's arms."

"Who did?" somebody asked as the door slid open. Harry stepped in looking completely annoyed, followed by Ron and Hermione, they both looked harassed as well.

"Teddy, when we watching him last week. Neville, seriously they looked so cute together, Teddy sleeping in his arms while Harry almost passed out himself. I wished quite a couple of time I had a camera."

"I would have loved to see that pic." Neville chuckled. "Hey, have you guys seen Luna?"

"Yes, we met her down the hall." Hermione said as she tried to relax.

"That bad, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, everybody wanted to say hi, thanks or just take a picture. We should have accepted McGonagall's proposal and traveled by floo-powder." Harry grumbled.

"Nah, it is the last year we can travel like this. We should enjoy it." Neville said.

"But where is Luna? Why didn't she come with you?"

"She had other obligations first." Harry said secretively.

"Ow, come on! Stop being like that." I yelled as I hit him playfully on the head.

"Okay! She has been made Head girl."

"What?" Neville and I both gasped.

"Yeah, she was on her way to the prefect carriage to explain duties and everything."

"McGonagall is being crazy like Dumbledore, don't get me wrong, I love Luna but having dreamy Luna as head…wow."

"I have seen her jinxing and cursing abilities enough last year, she is anything but dreamy if she gets angry or focused." Neville said thoughtfully.

"Professor McGonagall will know what she is doing." Hermione said.

During the train ride it quickly became clear that Ron, Hermione, Neville and Harry weren't the only ones returning to finish school. Dean showed up, and after him a handful of people from Harry's year came to say hello, most of them old D.A. members. It appeared that McGonagall had extended her invitation all students who hadn't been able to finish their NEWTS due to the war.

Everybody stayed for a short talk before visiting other friends.

"You know, Harry, there are still a lot of D.A. members left. Maybe we should continue to have meetings, not to learn how to defend ourselves but just to exchange information and have a nice time." Neville said as he watched Susan Bones leave the compartment.

"That isn't a bad idea. There are still dangers and we could use the time to discus those." Hermione said reasonably.

"Maybe, I don't know if I have much time to be there." Harry mused.

"We'll try, I'm sure the real members still have the coins. I hope the room of Requirement still works." Hermione thought out loud.

We discussed the D.A. gathering for a while but all came down to the schedule Harry's life would take. It was going to be a hectic year, studying, hearings, auror training, and other things Kingsley might need him for. Also the possible state of the room of Requirement was discussed, after the fiend-fire nobody knew if the room still exist.

Luna arrived just before the lunch trolley, she was beaming with pride and happiness that she was now head girl.

"Dad nearly fainted, he was so proud." She said happily.

Luna's dad still wasn't fully healed and was admitted for a long term stay at St. Mungo's. Luna visited him as often as she could. Hermione or Ron had been to see him as well, they, and Harry, felt guilty that he was hurt so badly. After all it happened after they had visited. He had been horribly attacked by the Death Eaters, he had managed to escape but he still was in pain. The healers did all they could but it was a slow process.

We were talking about her dad's recovery when the train suddenly stopped.

Harry uttered a word he had never said before. Looking extremely angry had grabbed his wand and stalked out, it was like he expected something to happen. We followed him on the foot. He was walking to the nearest door and threw it open. The remaining members of the D.A. joined us as Harry jumped out the train.

"I'll go and check on the driver." Ron whispered as he turned around and ran off.

"I'm going to make sure the youngest students are safe." Luna muttered.

"I'll help you." I heard someone else say.

I watched Harry closely, he was looking around him but for what I didn't knew. We gathered in a small circle around him.

"What is it?" Neville asked Harry.

"Dunno, I'm maybe Greyback, or Death Eaetrs, or both." Harry muttered.

Next to me Hermione whispered a incantation and a patronus disappeared in the growing darkness.

"Kingsley will be here soon." She whispered.

Harry nodded as he scanned the area around the train. I followed his eyes, looking for the cause of the sudden stop. It was quiet, too quiet. I hoped it meant that Luna and her helping hand were able to keep the kids from panicking.

"If it's Greyback he'll go for the young kids." Hermione whispered. "And you, Harry."

Harry nodded.

"If it are Death Eaters, they will come for you as well, Harry." I whispered.

"I'm hoping it will be both options. That way we can put them to jail together." Harry said menacing. He sounded really angry, he looked really angry. I don't think I had ever seen him look like that, his eyes were almost black so dark they were becoming, only the deep fire in them showed some light. His teeth were clenched together and his lips pressed to a thin line.

"Lets get back onto the train, search the compartments. Groups of three." Harry suddenly said.

It was a testimony to his natural authority that nobody questioned his decision. We slowly walked back to the train, covering each others back for the possibility of an attack from outside. When we reached the door Hermione spoke softly.

"Harry, maybe it's better to have some of us to guard the exits."

He looked at her for a second, than to the group. I was sure he was counting how many had the nerves to show up. Suddenly a loud bang sounded from the front of the train. We all turned to see a pouf of smoke coming from the front carriage.

"Ron." Hermione whispered.

"That's the prefect carriage, Luna might be there." I whispered.

Many of us made to move forward but Harry called us back.

"Not all of you, I want three or four to check the train from the back forwards. That leaves me, Ginny, Neville and Hermione to check that out. Stun, petrify or curse any werewolf or dark wizard on the way, don't hesitate, and don't doubt. And don't show mercy, they won't either."

It was a group of two D.A. members, Dean and Parvati, and two sixth years that had fought in the battle that left for the back of the train. Quickly, we ran to the front carriage.

"Ginny, Neville take the inside. Hermione and I go around." Harry said as he ran on.

Neville and I took the first door and were immediately met by a figure in a black cloak. Death Eaters. Secretly I had been hoping on a shot against Greyback but I would have to do with Death Eaters. The cloaked figure hadn't seen us yet, he was watching Harry ran by the window. Neville didn't hesitate, he raised his wand and without a word he brought it down, the Death Eater fell with it. A small angry smile spread around Neville's lips.

"Impressive." I whispered.

Neville nodded and we slowly moved on. The kids in this carriage all seemed alright, scared but alright. We silently slipped into the next carriage, loud explosions sounded ahead. This carriage was also guarded by one man.

"Werewolf." I whispered as I looked at the posture of the man, not transformed but the visual gave a clear idea.

"Is not Greyback." Neville whispered.

The man turned and we couldn't hide, in a snap decision I stepped forward and threw a body-bind curse at him. I hit target and the man fell to the ground. I stepped forward to check the man to see if I could name him. As I looked down at the man I had the eerie feeling that it was going to easy, they knew we were capable to fight, there should have been more for a real attack.

"I don't trust this." I murmured to Neville. "It's going too easy."

"Yeah…" He started to say but a loud bang threw open the door at the front of the carriage and we saw why it was too easy. A large group of seven cloaked figures ran out. They had all been in the front carriage. Maybe a few more spread through the train but the main attack had been planned in the prefect carriage.

The cloaked figures ran into the carriage we were standing, the younger kids were screaming and chaos erupted.

"Stay in your seat!" Neville yelled to the kids. He threw up a protective shield for them, knowing that it might not be enough and it left me fighting alone. He couldn't do both at the same time.

Without much though I was shooting curses and hexes in the general direction of the cloaked figures, wondering why the aurors weren't here yet. Or where Harry was, hopefully the one shooting curses through the door.

Through a spot of light coming from the door I saw Harry, Hermione and Ron entering the carriage. Stunning as they went. I had no business with stunning, I only fired curses and a good hex, but I had to aim better now, I could hit the others.

It was a hard duel, we were outnumbered four to six and with Neville trying to protect the kids we had to protect him as well. I had to duck quite a few green jets of light, knowing that they would kill me in an instant.

While flinging a curse to the nearest Death Eaters I noticed people behind me entering the carriage. All of them cloaked. Swearing like a sailor I stepped around the group to join Harry and fight from one side instead of being cornered. It was a mistake, I turned my uncovered back to the enemy

The last thing I remembered was seeing Kingsley finally arrive with Arn and a couple of more aurors and Harry screaming, "Ginny! Watch out!"

* * *

I felt something hit my back and everything went black.

Pain and nightmares haunted me, I saw Harry dead, I saw Hermione being killed, I saw Voldemort getting out of his grave alive and in perfect shape like he had when he got out of the diary, I saw unnamed red haired and green eyed children fighting against something much stronger. The pain was even more intimidating, it cut across my body and made the dreams only more real.

Sometimes I resurfaced from the nightmares, not completely but enough to realize that they were dreams, sometimes even enough to hear sounds.

"Ginny." I heard from far away but I couldn't place where it came from. The only thing on my mind was the nightmare, in which hooded figures who tried to kill me. A curse hit me and I screamed in pain.

"Shhh, Ginny, it's alright." I heard again, a bit more clear but still I couldn't pull myself away from the pain and the horrific images.

"Why isn't she waking up?" I heard a voice desperately ask, although I couldn't put a meaning to it I recognized Harry's voice. He sounded desperate.

"She'll come around when her body is ready." I heard a different voice say.

It was silent for a while and slowly the nightmares took over again, the pain intensified and I saw Harry with a baby in his arms being murdered. I couldn't distinguish reality from the dream anymore. I screamed for them, I tried to fight my way through the cloaked figures to save them, knowing I was to late anyway.

I fought against the pain but the nightmares made it hard.

"Ginny, please." I heard a soft voice say. It was Harry's voice again. "Please wake up."

_Wake up?_ I wished I could but I couldn't tell the direction to consciousness. I felt something fell on my face, it was wet and rolled down my face.

"Ginny, love, please." I heard Harry beg again. I wanted to tell him that I was there but I couldn't find my way. Every time I thought I was close to consciousness the pain pushed me back into the nightmares.

This went on for a long time, every now and then I would recognize Harry's pleading voice, at those moments I thought I had found my way out off the nightmares but when I tried to speak or open my eyes the pain pushed me back. Consciousness hurt as much as the nightmares.

After a long time the pain slowly faded, I felt my hands again, I felt someone holding my hand. I sighed in relieve when I was able to open my eyes without the pain that normally accompanied the trying. I blinked a few times against the light coming from a torch just above were I was.

_Where I was_…I had no idea where I was or what had happened. I just knew I had been dreaming wildly and that everything in that dream hurt. I tried to lift my head to see where I was but lifting my head hurt. Every movement I tried to make hurt. I tried turning my head, much to my relieve it didn't hurt as much. I saw Harry sitting next to me, sleeping.

"Harry?" I asked, my voice wasn't really cooperating and it sounded off. Somehow Harry heard it and slowly opened his eyes. I tried to smile at him but my face felt swollen and painful.

"Ginny?" He murmured.

"Hey." I whispered.

"Ginny! Oh I'm so happy you are awake." Harry said and broke out in tears. "I was so worried about you."

He kissed me softly, carefully, I felt his tears fell on my face.

"What happened? Where am I?" I asked when he gave me the chance.

"You don't remember?" Harry asked, wiping the tears from his face.

"No, I don't even know where I am."

"You are in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Don't you remember the attack on the train?"

_Hogwarts! I thought it all looked familiar. The train?_I did remember the train, talking to Neville, giving my congrats to Luna for becoming head girl, and talking about her dad. After that it was all fuzzy.

"I remember talking about Luna's dad." I mused. "What happened, and why do I feel like the train has ran over me?"

Harry flinched as I said that.

"How bad am I anyway?" I asked. My whole body felt sore and broken. I could feel bandages covering almost every bit.

"Very bad." Harry whispered, again tears fell down his face. "I thought I was loosing you."

"That bad?" I asked, softly I tried to squeeze his hand, surprisingly my fingers worked without pain.

"Yes, you got hit when you turned towards us, the Death Eater got you full in the back. He used a curse, but it went wrong, it resulted in only more injuries. The only thing that told me your heart was still beating was the steady flow of blood that came out you. I don't think I even been so scared."

Harry closed his eyes and ran his hand trough his hair. When he opened them again he looked at me fiercely.

"I almost blasted the whole train apart to get to you before the Death Eater finished you. You were bleeding like crazy, I think there isn't a part of you that isn't covered with cuts. Madam Pomfrey says you are going to be alright, but she needed help from a healer from St. Mungo's to heal your wounds. He has been here every day since."

"Every day? How many days have I been out?"

"More than a week. I have been to class and sat here. I couldn't leave you alone, even unconscious you were screaming and trashing. It reminded me of Hermione when she was tortured."

He continued to cry, and kiss me softly. I tried to bring up the last moments before the curse hit me, but I couldn't find it in my memory, everything was blank from the moment I talked to Luna.

"What happened exactly? I can't remember."

"The train suddenly stopped, I was so sure Greyback was behind it, I could only think about how to get him away from the younger kids. I ran out, hoping to draw him out the train. Most D.A. members and a few sixth years followed us. It was only than that I thought about Death Eaters being a possibility." He shook his head, like he was ashamed.

His words stirred up my memories, I suddenly remembered that part, standing back to back searching for the source of the problems.

"There was an explosion in the prefect carriage." I whispered, remembering.

"Yes, we dived up, one large group to ensure the students were safe, we were heading toward the front of the train. You and Neville cleared out two carriages. Hermione, Ron and I were met by a large group of Death Eaters and werewolves. We were able to drive them back, they headed into the carriage were you and Neville were, I thought we were winning, we were outnumbered but you were brilliant and every curse or hex you fired hit target. Suddenly four more enemies entered the carriage, you were cornered. I saw you making your way towards us, trying to get out, but they noticed too."

His head dropped in his hand.

"All I could do was watch how you were hit."

His words brought back all the images and memories of the fight, about how Neville desperately tried to defend the first years who sat in that carriage, about how trapped I had felt and why I tried to get to Harry.

"Kingsley and the auror office arrived at that moment. The werewolves and Death Eaters didn't notice it at first, I wanted to get to you but was blocked. I got so angry that I blew up half the carriage to get to you, Ron, Hermione and I got hurt in that action, but it had the desired effect. Hermione tried to stop your bleeding but it didn't work properly."

"What about the others?"

"Luna was stunned as soon as she entered the prefect carriage but Ron saved her from much worse, she's alright now. Ron and Hermione are a bit angry with me for getting them hurt, but it were only small cuts and bruises."

"What about Greyback? And the Death Eaters?"

"Greyback was never there, he let others do his dirty work. We managed to capture two werewolves and three Death Eaters, among them Selwyn, the others I had never seen or heard of before."

"That's good than, at least we got somewhere."

Harry looked at me, hurt flashed across his face.

"I've just been at your side for eight torturous days, Ginny. I listened to your screams of pain, your moans as fever dreams took hold, waited for days for you to wake up. Wondering if you would ever really wake up. Nothing good happened in that fight." He snapped.

I looked at him for a long time, he never met my eye. He stared in the distance while tears kept running down his face. I knew he hadn't meant to snap at me like that, he just was worried about me but still I couldn't imagine what he had been through these last days. I squeezed his hand again. He looked down at me, his eyes were red with tears, he looked like a mess.

"How many hours have you slept lately?" I asked.

"Not many, I couldn't sleep with you screaming and trashing." He whispered.

"Have you been in your bed at all?"

"Only for a few hours, when Ron or Hermione took over to watch you."

Just as I wanted to tell him to get some sleep madam Pomfrey walked in.

"I thought I heard voices. It's good to see you awake again, Miss Weasley. How are you feeling?"

"Like the Hogwarts train ran over me."

"Yes, your injuries are extensive, I was worried for a while that I would have to send you to St. Mungo's. With Severus dead we don't have an expert in dark arts and wounds."

"How bad are they?" I asked.

"Well the wounds are almost healed, some will cause scars but non of them are located on very visible places. Miss Granger did a very good job on healing the wounds in your face, otherwise you would have scars there as well."

Madam Pomfrey inspected the wounds and put some new bandages on. She let Harry stay with me as she removed the bandages and cleaned the wounds, I wondered why she had agreed for him to stay. She was very old fashioned and normally any guy would have been send away. Looking at Harry's shock face I rather she would send him away, he didn't need to see me like this.

For me this was a chance to see the wounds for myself. It honestly was a shock, every inch of my skin from the chest down, my arms as well were covered in minor cuts, scars and bruises.

"It looks like Sectum Sempra, gone wrong." I murmured.

"That's what we thought as well." Madam Pomfrey nodded as she fastened the last of the bandages. "You were extremely lucky, miss Granger was able to stop most of the bleeding quickly. You are lucky to have her as a friend. Without her work I'm not sure you would have been able to thank her for it."

She gave me a potion and ordered me to drink it all before noon. She left Harry and me alone again. He didn't say anything for a long time, he just sat there looking terrible.

"Harry, you should get some sleep." I whispered as I took a sip from the potion.

"I'm not going to leave you alone." He said in a cold voice.

He didn't meet my eyes and I felt waves of anger and hatred coming from him. I sighed and tried to sit up a bit. It was painful but I wasn't going to give into it. Winching with every move I kept silent as I sat up a bit. I turned myself to face him so that he would meet my eye.

"Tell me." I echoed the words from a month ago.

He watched me and for a second I wondered what my face looked like, but I didn't turn away. After a long battle of stares he sighed and gave in.

"I failed to protect you again. I feel like it is my fault the whole school and specially you had to endure this. I should have apparated or used floo-powder."

"Urgh, not this again. Harry how many times do I have to repeat myself." I sighed.

"But it's true, you and specially the younger kids shouldn't have gone through that, only because I was on that train."

"Harry, you've got to stop thinking like that. Yes, it was horrible, and yes I looked horrendous right now, but I got injured because I made a mistake, I forgot to cover my back as I moved towards you. From what I remembered our plan was good, sometimes plans just don't work out."

"They wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me."

I glared at him, boy, did he knew how to get under my, very shore, skin.

"Harry, if it wasn't for you fifty percent of those kids would never have heard of Hogwarts, or been had murdered, or their parents would have been murdered. Now stop carrying the world."

He just sighed and shook his head.

"How can I think like that when you almost got killed." His voice hitched on the last word. "It should have been safe after he died."

"It will be safe, Harry, it will be. Somewhere in the near future when you have become an auror and caught every roaming dark wizard." I smiled.

He looked at me for a long time, just staring at me, I couldn't even fathom what was going through his mind. The feeling of almost loosing someone I still remember vividly but I couldn't imagine what it would be like for him. Giving up everything to save your friends and those you love and than when everything seem to come to you, the peace is being ripped up again.

He blinked his eyes a couple of times, he looked worn down and ready to fall asleep.

"Harry, you should get some sleep." I told him.

"No, I'm staying here." He said as he pulled himself upright.

"Don't even try. I'm going to be alright, but I have no use for you when you fall apart at the seams when I get out of here. Go and get some sleep."

He continued to look at me for a while. His thumb rubbed my hand for a while.

"Yeah, you are probably right." He sighed.

"Most of the time I am right." I smiled at him.

Finally he smiled a bit. After a while he got up and bend down to give me a kiss.

"I'll see you tonight, your mom and dad will be here this afternoon, and I'm sure everybody will visit you during the day."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you, too."

When he reached the door he turned to me again.

"You should sleep as well." He said.

"I'll try, and when you come back I want to see you smile again."

He smiled a bit more now, it didn't reach his eyes but it was a start. He walked out of the room and I decided to do a general check up on myself with the freedom of winching and moaning through the pain.

I realized as I checked every part of my body that it was mainly my skin that was painful. It was annoying because you use your skin with every move, I found out.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him, you know." Madam Pomfrey said as she walked in to check on me. "He has had a really rough eight days. You were so ill and bleeding so much, I wasn't even sure you would make it through. He sat next to your bed every free minute, mostly crying himself to sleep."

"I know, but he should stop blaming himself for everything that goes wrong, it was my mistake that I got hit by that curse, not his."

"Still, he loves you more than you imagine. It's like watching James and Lily when they finally got together, you two have the same intensity. One day in their seventh year the kids got attacked during a Hogsmeade trip. James and his friends rushed to aid the younger students, Lily followed. She got hit during the fight that followed. She got seriously injured, James never left her, for two weeks he spend every free minute at her side. Seeing Harry watching over you is bringing back those images."

"Did you knew Harry's parents well?" I asked as I tried to move my legs a bit.

"I knew James really well, he was more in the hospital than out, together with Sirius Black he was here at least ones every two weeks, specially in his first five years. After his parents got killed he grew up fast and I didn't see him as much."

"Everybody keeps saying how much we look like them." I mused. I tried the get the conversation going to forget the itching pain.

"You do. Lily was a fiery red head, you have a lot of her temper and looks. Harry's looks so much like James that it's almost scary. I watched you two just now, it's really like watching the past become the now."

I didn't knew what to say to that.

"have you finished your own check-up? How are you feeling?" madam Pomfrey.

"Oh yes." I blushed a bit, I didn't knew she noticed me doing my own inventory, "It's mostly my skin that hurts, and it starts itching."

"That's good, when skin heals it itch. I'll make you some cream against it. Besides that anything else?"

"Now you ask, I'm terribly hungry. And I want to know what my face looks like because I think it looks bad."

"Oh, your face is a bit covered with bruises but the cuts are gone now. I'll get you a mirror and something to eat."

"and a brush, please. My hair feels like a haystack."

After I ate something madam Pomfrey brushed my hair for me. I wanted to do it myself but I couldn't lift my arm so high. After that she gave me a potion so that I could sleep for a while. I was knock-out quickly.


	30. Quidditch captain or Matchmaker

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* * *

**30. Quidditch captain or Matchmaker **

I couldn't say that I imagined spending the first weeks of my last Hogwarts year in the hospital wing but that's exactly what happened. The wounds were healing incredible slow, and with madam Pomfrey as well as Harry worrying over me so much that I thought I would never see the day I was allowed to leave that bed.

Hermione and Luna had been very helpful, they made notes for me in classes and brought me my homework, at least I was able to keep up with my NEWTS. Hermione helped me with essays that were difficult and my brother took care of the distraction part of recovery.

Harry never left my side, I had to send him away so he could get some sleep. At first I thought he was never going to get over his guilt but George had beaten some sense into him.

George had visited on Monday night after I had been attacked. I had already been fighting with Harry again about this whole guilt thing. Deeply annoyed I was muttering in bed, of course George wanted to know what was wrong. Relieved to talk to someone who wasn't impressed by Harry's past I explained the whole situation

George understood.

"Ginny, you are completely right, it was your mistake."

"Thanks." I grimaced.

"but you have to remember that Harry could do nothing but watch when it happened, he must have felt so scared and helpless."

"I know, and I understand but he doesn't have to be grumpy about it. It happened, bad things happen, without a time-turner he can't chance it. He's got to suck it up and live." I argued.

"I'll talk to him for you, if you want me too?"

"What are you going to say to him?" I asked, I knew my brother, I was sure he would behave but he had been known not too.

"That he should stop being grumpy and start living if he wants to live his life with my sister. Don't you trust me to say the right things?"

"No." I chuckled. "but I would appreciate if you talk to him anyway."

And he did, after he left the hospital wing he went to search for Harry. From my bed I had a good view if the lake and after fifteen minutes I saw Harry and George taking a walk around it. From what I could see it was a heated discussion.

Later when Harry came back to visit me he looked like he was angry. He stood silently by the door looking at me, I gave him a soft smile but he didn't react. His eyes looked torn between a heavy storm and burning passion, I just couldn't see which one was winning.

Slowly he walked towards me, his eyes still stormy.

"So, when little miss Weasley can't do it herself she sends out her big brother to do her dirty jobs." He whispered. I wanted to believe that he was joking but his voice sounded so menacing. I continued to watch him as he walked around my bed.

"I'm starting to worry if she's afraid to get her hands dirty, because that's not the girl I know." Now the humor in his voice betrayed him.

"Well, if I had been allowed to do it myself you would be in a much worse state. I think my brother had been kind." I grinned wickedly.

"Really?"

"Hmm-mm." I nodded. "I would literally kick your butt and you know it."

"Than I'm lucky that for the moment you aren't allowed to move around a lot." He leaned down and kissed me softly and quickly pulled back.

"Urgh, when I get released you won't get away with just a simple kiss."

Harry had smiled and sat down next to me. We talked for a long time, about his anger and guilt but mostly about me, specially about my worries for my place as Quidditch captain. The first match was against Slytherin and it was the Sunday after Halloween. It meant that I had only two months left to get the team selected and ready and there wasn't much chance of being released from my bed this week. Even more annoying was that I wasn't allowed to select Ron and Harry. McGonagall said due to their age and experience it wouldn't be fair to the competition. So I had to select a whole new team.

Together with Harry I drew up a trainings schedule and a try-out plan, just so I was prepared the moment I was allowed out of bed.

Harry told me about the lessons, the new teachers, about his auror training and the trials against the Malfoy family.

Harry had been able to get Narcissa out the whole thing, her bad record was wiped clean because of Harry's statement that she actually saved him. Draco and Lucius weren't so lucky. Harry did his best to prevent that Draco would be convicted to a sentence in Azkaban but there was no denying that he was mainly responsible for the death of Dumbledore and people wanted somebody to pay for that. Still Harry was advocating that Draco was a victim of his parents decision and the threat that Voldemort would have killed them all if Draco hadn't agreed to try and kill Dumbledore.

For Lucius there was nothing he could do, he would be send to Azkaban for at least ten years. The only thing that could be arranged were visiting hours for Draco and Narcissa.

I thought Harry was being a bit crazy going through all that just for somebody who hated him for so long, but it was his battle to fight and I let him to it.

The new head of Gryffindor house came to visit me every other day. It was a really sweet woman, the new Transfiguration teach, professor Elian Kelly, an Irish witch. She was in her late forties, with long strawberry blond hair and sapphire eyes. She was very gifted, like McGonagall an animagus and said to be as brilliant as McGonagall as well. Hermione specially loved her teaching methods.

Professor Kelly wasn't like any other teacher, she knew what we had been through and she saw us more as equals who wanted to learn from each other than just students. One evening she even admitted to feel a bit out of place to teach the great Harry Potter.

Anyway, every other day she visited me to see how I was doing, sometimes, when I was alone she stayed for a while and we talked. Although she was much older than me I really enjoyed talking to her and we became good friends quickly.

On an evening that Harry was away with Kingsley she came by to tell me that a lot of kids had written down their name on the list for the Quidditch team try-outs.

"It was planned Sunday but Poppy says there would be no way that you would be able to fly Sunday. So I told the kids that the try-outs would be rescheduled once their captain is healthy again."

"I hope I get out soon, I'm ready to get the team together and I had enough of doing nothing."

"I know, Ginny, you'll be out here soon."

Luna was also a regular visitor. She had been very shaken by the attack and by the fact that I got injured so badly. I think she felt a little bit guilty that she was taken out so easily. Whenever Harry was away she would be at my side. Together we wrote our essays or talked about boys, or about yet an other fight Ron and Hermione got into.

On Tuesday evening Harry and Luna arrived together.

"Ginny, they have a lead on Greyback. I'm going to the ministry tonight, I'm sorry."

"No, don't be, you go and hurt Greyback for me. I'll be alright."

"You really don't mind?" He asked a bit worried.

"No, just make sure if you find him that he's gets what he deserves. No business with being mister-nice-guy."

"Okay. I'll come by when I get back." He said as he kissed me goodbye.

Luna sat down next to me and looked at Harry leaving.

"He's really sweet, isn't he?" she mused.

"Yeah, besides the whole guilt thing he's almost prefect." I sighed.

"Dad says I should make Harry fall in love with me, he keeps on going on about how I should find a perfect guy like him." Luna said with a giggle.

"Hey, you can have every guy in the world but the one with black messy hair and green eyes is mine." I laughed.

We were still laughing when the door opened and a group of three red heads walked in.

"Mom, dad, Charlie, what are you doing here?"

"Checking in to see if my daughter is listening to the nurse." Mom said when she hugged me.

"Of course I do, madam Pomfrey would curse me herself if I did anything to jeopardize her work, and if she wouldn't do it I'm sure Harry will."

Dad and Charlie laughed and both leaned in to give me a hug.

"Charlie what are you doing here?"

"Visiting my little sister. I got a letter from mom about you, an attack and a hospital bed, I thought it was a good moment to take a few days off and remind you that Harry is the hero not you. Can't you really stay out of trouble for one year?" He eyes were twinkling with laughter.

Mom, dad and Charlie said hello to Luna and sat down as well. Charlie asked a thousand questions about what happened and how I was doing, how things were going with Harry. Mom and dad talked to madam Pomfrey for a while before joining us.

Dad had no news about what Harry had meant with a lead on Greyback but he was sure that Kingsley, Arn and Harry, together with the other aurors would be able to deal with it.

It was a really nice evening, although I should have been spending it writing essays I much rather talked to mom and dad. Charlie and Luna were in a deep conversation of their own, probably about dragons and other magical animals, but they seem to enjoy talking to each other.

When it was almost ten madam Pomfrey reminded my mother that I needed to sleep to heal. It was a tactful way to tell them visiting hour was over. I saw Charlie write something down on a piece of parchment and handed the parchment to Luna. I pretended not to notice Luna's twinkle in her eyes and said goodbye to mom and dad.

"Well sis, I'm happy to see you are doing alright. Write me when you are released, I want to know that you are doing alright."

"I will. Hopefully I'll see you soon again."

"You will. I'll be there with Christmas."

"Okay. Bye."

Luna left together with my family waving and talking to Charlie. I somehow got the feeling that I knew what Luna looked for in a man and I had the suspicion that, that something was to be found in my brother. Shaken my head and laughing a bit I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

Sleeping with knowing that Harry was out there, probably hunting Greyback wasn't easy. I kept turning over thinking about what was happening, what Harry was doing and most specially if he was safe.

Somewhere during the night I finally fell asleep, but my dreams kept on going about Greyback. It just wasn't going to leave me alone. Much to my relieve I was woken up just before my dreams turned really bad.

"Ginny. Hey. I'm back." Harry whispered.

I blinked a few times and turned to where his voice came from. I was shocked by what I saw.

"Harry!" I gasped. "What happened?"

He looked like he had been fighting without magic but with fists. His cheek was bruises and he had a small cut above his left eye.

"We found and lost Greyback." He groaned as he sat down on the edge of my bed.

"What happened, you look like a mess."

"Kingsley had a lead about a possible attack on two kids from a wizarding family. He had send the aurors to investigate, we were supposed to wait at his office for news, but it wasn't only Greyback who was there. The aurors got massively outnumbered, we got an emergence patronus from Arn, requesting additional help to get the kids and aurors to safety."

"Of course you went." I groaned.

"You told me to hurt Greyback, I listen to you."

"Did you?"

"Yes, a large fight was going on, and some jinxes and curses brushed but I got Greyback, he'll either bleed to death or has a friend that can heal dark wounds because my curse hit him full and square just as he apparated."

"Which curse?"

"Sectum Sempra. I thought I should make him repay a bit for what his companions did to you." Harry said softly. I was very proud of him but I could see behind his eyes that guilt was already brewing.

"and now you regret it?"

"Yes, I didn't want to lower myself to the Death Eater level, but that is exactly what I have done, I hurt somebody for my own pleasure."

"Harry, you can't be always the good guy, sometimes other emotions take over. And you didn't do it for yourself, you did it for me."

"Again, I don't see things quite like that, Ginny." Harry sighed as he kissed the top of my head. "I'm going to take a shower and get some sleep before you kick me out. I'll see you in the morning."

"Sleep well, and stop worrying." I smiled at him.

The next morning I woke up very late, still tired from the nightmare and the late visit from Harry, I decided to do nothing besides just laying and keeping my eyes closed. To chase away any bad images from the nightmare or from what imagined happened to Harry last night I thought about Luna and Charlie. They looked really cute together, both extremely nice and both having the same interests. Somehow I could imagine those two together perfectly.

"What's the smile about?"

"Hey! Good morning to you too." I said as I opened my eyes. Harry looked much better this morning, the cut was healing and the bruises was already fading. He also looked happy again, his eyes were bright and cheerful again.

"Hello, love. Did you sleep well?" he said as he kissed me softly.

"Yeah, after you came back it was much better. Did you sleep at all?"

"Yeah, actually I did. So tell me what were you smiling about?"

The smile returned as I remembered last night, it would be really fantastic if I was right about Luna and Charlie.

"After you left I had three visitors."

"Really, who?"

"Mum, dad and Charlie."

"Was Charlie here? Too bad I missed him. It would have been nice to say hello."

"Luna was here as well." I said mysteriously.

"Yes, and?"

"I think I know what Luna is looking for in a guy."

Harry looked at me confused, I just kept my mouth shut and let him put the pieces together himself. After a few minutes realization started to appear in his eyes.

"Do you mean, Luna and Charlie?"

"I'm not sure, they talked a lot yesterday and just before they left Charlie wrote something down and gave it to Luna. She looked very happy."

Harry wasn't so keen on my explanation and reasoned that it could have been just work related, Luna's interest in magical creatures rivaled Charlie's and Harry thought they must have been talking about that, but I was sure I was right, I had seen it in Luna's eyes.

I didn't get the chance to ask Luna about it, when every she visited she was accompanied by either Hermione, Neville or Ron. Secretly I worked on an idea to get her and Charlie together in one room again but it wasn't really coming along properly. Playing match-maker with a brother that lived so far away wasn't easy.

In total it took three weeks for my wounds to heal. Only three of the cuts left scars, I think I thanked Hermione and madam Pomfrey a thousand times for the good work. On Friday morning I was finally allowed to get out of bed, and walk around a bit. Just before dinner madam Pomfrey told me I was free to go, under the condition of taking it easy this weekend, and no flying or Quidditch try-out on Sunday.

Harry came to pick me up, he brought clothes and shoes for me. Together we walked down to the great hall. When I entered the hall whispers and looks were thrown at me like crazy. Almost every head turned to look at us.

"Now, they know who the great Harry Potter lost his heart too." I giggled.

"Actually Ginny, the whispers are all about you. Every student have been asking questions about the girl that got hurt defending first years."

"Really?"

"Yeah, somebody spread the rumor that Harry Potter's girl is just as powerful and can throw great hexes. They are wondering about you."

"I really don't believe you." I shook my head. He just laughed and walked towards the Gryffindor table. Hermione moved a bit for me to sit next to her.

"It's good to see you out of bed again." She said.

"Yeah, I can't believe I have missed three weeks of my last year here."

"You'll quickly wished you were back in there." Ron grumbled.

"What, why?"

"Ron is already falling apart under the load of homework." Hermione explained.

"They could have told us it was going to be that bad. I would have never returned here if I knew."

Hermione looked hurt when he said that, only Ron didn't notice. A few seconds later Hermione got up and left the hall without a word. Ron was looking after her, clearly confused.

"I think you should go after her." I said softly.

"Why? What did I do?"

"You just told her that she wasn't important enough to stay here." Harry sighed.

"Oh…" Ron looked at the door for a long time. When the words finally sank in he got up and hurried out the door.

"That's the second time this week that they are fighting." Luna said as she walked towards us.

"They will be fine. They are always fighting." Harry said concentrating on his food.

Luna sat down next to me.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as a empty plate appeared in front of her.

"Much better!"I said happily, then I thought of something, "Luna, shouldn't you sit at the Ravenclaw table?"

She looked up shocked.

"Do you want some privacy with Harry?" she asked sweetly.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that but aren't you supposed to sit at the Ravenclaw table?"

"No, not anymore, professor McGonagall says it's good to share tables, only the Slytherins keep to themselves. Look around."

Of course Luna was right, all the tables held a mix group, well except for the Slytherin table that is. It was cute to see Huffelpuf, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor mix. You could literally see new couples form. Like Suzan Bones and Neville, they were talking quietly at the corner of the Huffelpuf table.

Okay, I admit maybe I'm a bit too much of a romantic, seeing lovely couples everywhere but the idea was nice.

I wasn't allowed to hold the Quidditch try-out that weekend, madam Pomfrey would drag me back to the hospital wing if she knew, so I spend the weekend catching up on everything I had missed. Gossip, teachers, and classes.

Sadly there wasn't too much gossip, most seven years were too busy with the NEWTs. The only gossip I heard made me emit steam in anger. Girls were only chatting about Harry and how cute he looked.

"On Saturday morning when I was in the bathroom I heard two fifth year girls talking.

"Harry Potter, that would be a great catch." One of the girls said.

"I think he'll be a good kisser as well. Somebody so popular would have had a lot of practice." The other one said.

"And he looks so sexy, can you imagine what he would look like naked." The first one giggled.

"Actually, he has a couple of scars on his chest and back, is really muscular and his skin is really soft." I said as I stepped out if the cubicle. The girls looked shocked. "Oh yeah, and if you had any thoughts about it. Any imagination about sex, well he is at least ten times better in bed than you can come up with."

I left the bathroom smiling wickedly but later I regretted my actions a bit.

On the teacher department there was much to catch up on. Slughorn had stayed this year as well and was still happily teaching potions, McGonagall had asked Hagrid to continue to teach and he did it with more flair than we could have imagined.

Harry told me a lot about the new Defense teacher, the old auror, all business and no-nonsense. Harry really liked the old man, apparently the old man wasn't hesitant to correct Harry when he did something wrong. It was something no other teacher would have done.

Sunday we spend completely in the library, Luna joined us but annoyingly I never got the chance to ask her about her conversation with Charlie. Hermione was buried in books, trying to get as many NEWTs as OWL's, Harry and Ron were bent over an essay for potions and Neville was writing out a growth plan for one of the magical plants.

I glanced at Luna, she was writing an essay as well, something I should have been doing as well, but I was a bit distracted by the fact that I was still inside. Being locked up for so long wasn't really something for me. Sighing I put down my quill.

"I'm going to take a walk out side, I need some fresh air." I said as I got up.

"I'll come with you." Luna said.

"Oh, you don't need to."

"No, it's okay, I need to clear my mind from the Wackspurts anyway."

"Okay, we'll be back soon." I promised Harry with a quick kiss.

Luna and I walked out the front doors into a surprisingly warn sun.

"I wonder when winter will come, it's been nice for so long, at some point the weather will change drastically." I mused.

"Yeah the weather has been really nice." Luna sighed as she looked up in the sun.

We strolled along the lake shores in companionable silences. We both were content with the feeling of the sun on our skin.

"I'm happy you feel so much better." Luna suddenly said.

"Thanks." I murmured.

Luna sat down on a large stone, staring out over the lake.

"Can I ask you something?" she whispered.

"Yeah, what is it."

"Tell me about how it is to grow up in such a large family, to have so many brothers."

"Oh, it's really nice when your brothers are nice. Ron and Percy have always been very decent, Bill and Charlie haven't been in my life much but when they are around they behave like the proper big brothers and Fred and George were there more for the entertainment. They all stand up for me if I asked them, they wouldn't hesitate to kill Harry if he hurts me but they also know that having grown up with him made me more than able to solve my problems on my own."

"Sounds so nice to have such a big family."

"It is, but you have absolutely no privacy and no peace."

Luna sat silently still staring in front of her, she looked sad or like she was deeply lost in her thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

"About Christmas actually, I got a letter from dad. The healers say he won't be allowed to leave for at least six months. That means that he won't be home with Christmas. I realized that I'm alone with Christmas for the first time since my mom died. After I saw you and your family, with always somebody to share a special moment with I started to wish I had brothers or sisters." Luna blushed as she admitted her wish. I quickly wrapped my arms around her feeling incredibly sorry for her.

"I'm sorry, Luna." I whispered.

We sat there for a while. Just staring out over the lake, after fifteen minutes or so Luna got her dreamy smile back on her face and I had a plan to play match-maker as well as winning the price for best best-friend ever. I kept my fingers crossed that Harry and mum would cooperate.

We went back to studying, something we did all week. The lessons themselves weren't particularly hard but the theory behind it was and it kept us very busy.

By Wednesday evening I was already dreaming about the next weekend. Quidditch try-outs, it couldn't come fast enough.

Well they did come fast enough, due to all the homework and catching up I had to do, I lost track of time completely. Sunday arrived before I even realized that the weekend had started.

I felt great relieve that I had spend my time in the hospital wing to draw up a try-out plan with time schedules and selection assignments. I asked Harry to watch the try-out so I could discus possible players with him later. I was happy that he agreed to help me.

Sunday morning just after breakfast we headed out to the Quidditch pitch. The weather was finally changing, I already missed the sun, it had turned to a dull grey cloudy cover and the wind was picking up.

"Not bad weather for a try-out." Harry mused as he watched the sky.

"Yeah, maybe if the wind picks up we can see how many stay on their broom." I agreed.

As I walked into the Quidditch pitch I started to feel the pressure of being the captain, although inter-house connections were pushed Quidditch was still a battle, a ongoing endless war between the houses, and the success of that war rested on my shoulders.

To put on pressure even more Harry made the most marvelous comment.

"I heard rumors about scouts for the Quidditch teams coming to watch the first match. I'm sure you are going to show them your talents. You just need a good team to back it up."

I'm sure he meant it as an encouragement but I felt my heart sank. I had only a month and a few weeks left to get a team together and trained, that wasn't very encouraging. Further the fact that the whole Gryffindor stand was starting to get filled with people wanting to watch the try-out and support their friends, wasn't uplifting either.

I looked around me for a second and than turned to the task at hand. I would just have to endure it.

The idea of having a time schedule really helped. I had scheduled the chasers to try-out first. It kept the pitch clear of any unwanted crowed.

I gave every hopeful a number and I wrote down their name.

"Okay, because I am playing Chaser as well, I only select three additional players, I wanted one back-up in case of severe injuries. Practice will be held at least twice a week and the week before a match we will practice three or four times. If anyone of you feel like you won't be able to put so much time into it you better leave now."

Nobody left but I couldn't imagine all of them actually wanting to spend the time that was required on the Quidditch field. We started with groups of five just flying laps. I wanted to see if they had the stamina and the speed to keep up with the training schedule. It was a good choice to begin with, more than half wasn't really suited for Quidditch and fell off immediately.

After that I had them pass the quaffle around, first slow but increasingly faster and harder. It eliminated almost the entire group. I was left with seven players. I had already seen two I really liked but I wanted to try them out in a racing position.

In the end I still had seven good players, it was a bit annoying but I held on to my ideas of discussing them with Harry before revealing my selection.

"Okay, that was enough, I want you seven to stick around for the keepers try-out but I'll post the selection later this week in the common room, I have seven good players and I need time to think this through properly.

Keepers try-out sure cleared a lot up. From the seven only five managed to actually, fly, chase, race and score all in one. Oh yeah not to mention that during a match you have the additional bludgers to distract them.

Keepers was going to be a cause of headache, nobody was brilliant as wood, who I considered the standard. I love Ron and he is really good but his nerves let him down and I couldn't have that this year, but far more worrisome was that nobody who tried for Keeper was really good. I had my potential chasers shooting at them non-stop for ten minutes, I kept my eyes out for somebody showed improvement. I made notes as I saw things I liked or disliked. Afterwards I promised them to think it through and let them know as soon as I made the decision.

With the beaters I had more luck, there were a lot of people trying out but using the same elimination procedures as I had with Chasers I was able to eliminate ninety percent, leaving only five people. Of those five there were two who had brilliant aim and could handle a club very well. I made those selections on a whim. I saw in them the same flair Fred and George had on the pitch, they were good friends as well so I felt very positive in that selection.

Seeker selection, now that was a hell. Nobody was as good as Harry. After an hour of trying, searching and groaning in frustration I narrowed it down to three possible candidates but I was very doubtful about them.

It was well into the afternoon when I completely exhausted crashed down next to Harry on the lower part of the stands.

"Tired?" He asked.

"Yeah, and my skin is itching again."

Harry looked at me with a worried expression. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. He softly rubbed my back and let me relax in his arms. Slowly most of the weariness disappeared, still I felt like I could sleep for days.

"You have a good duo for the beaters." He commented.

"Yeah, the rest is giving me a headache."

"We'll sleep on it for a night and discus them tomorrow." Harry sweetly whispered in my ear.

I nodded and closed my eyes for a second. It felt good to sit here in his arms. He softly kissed the top of my head and sighed content.

"Shall we go back to the castle and eat something?" Harry asked after a while.

"As much as I want to eat, I want to take a bath first."

"Okay, lets go."

Harry pulled me up and wrapped his arms around my waist. He leaned in and his lips brushed mine, first softly but quickly growing more passionately quickly. I pressed my body against him wanting him more closely.

"Ginny, I don't know how I'm going to stay sane this whole year if you are keeping kissing me like that." He whispered against my lips.

"You started it." I pouted. Harry laughed and kissed me again, now shortly and without the deep passion.

"Come, lets get you a bath and have some food." He laughed.

We walked out the pitch hand in hand.

"Harry? I was thinking."

"About what?"

"Christmas."

"What? I thought you would be worried about Quidditch, Christmas is still so far away."

"I know but I can't forget what Luna said."

I had told Harry about the conversation I had with Luna, as sad as he thought it was he didn't think about a solution for it, he had been too busy with everything else. I, on the other hand, had been thinking about a good solution, the same solution I had came up with in the beginning.

"I might have a solution."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about inviting Luna over for Christmas."

"That would indeed be lovely, but with Andromeda, Teddy, Bill, Fleur, Audrey and Charlie also being there, the Burrow would be a bit full, I don't think we should put that pressure on your mom."

"That's why I think we should suggest to have Christmas at the Summer house. The dinning room will be big enough, the sitting room can hold a large Christmas tree and all those who don't have their own room at the Burrow can sleep there."

"It would be a great place to celebrate Christmas, I'm sure Drooble can make it look stunning. Do you think your mom will agree to that?"

"If you suggest it she will." I said with a smile.

"How many people will be staying to sleep?"

"Well Hermione sleeps with Ron anyway so she won't, it probably will be Charlie, Luna and maybe Andromeda with Teddy."

"Charlie and Luna, huh." Harry said as a grin started to form around his lips.

"Yeah, well they seem to be getting along very well, so why not." I tried to keep an innocent face but I knew I was failing.

"How many personalities do you want this year, Quidditch captain, Match-maker, do you have more plans?" Harry laughed.

"Hey it's a good plan." I said as I tried to tickle him.

"Okay, okay, I'll send you mom a letter suggesting that she would like a bit more of space and that you want to invite Luna, but you are going to ask Luna yourself."

"Don't forget to mention the help Drooble will be."


	31. From anger to happiness

_**Sorry I took so long with updating, last week my FiL died suddenly and I hadn't be able to write much...I hope this long chapter makes up a bit...**_

_**Also, I have been rereading my first few chapters and I found a lot of grammar mistakes, I still make them I know but not so much, so I am considering updating those chapter and brush out some mistakes but I'll keep on updating...**_

_**Last I want to thank all my readers and reviewer, I really listen to your comments and pointing out mistakes...thanks!**_

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**31. from anger to happiness.**

"Colleen is good, she'll be able to save our ass many times, but you need a good seeker as well."

"I know Harry." I sighed. We were discussing team players for three hours now and we weren't any closer to selecting a seeker. Colleen was going to be our keeper, that selection was very easily made when Harry and I compared our notes on keepers, Colleen Hellworn had been the only one able to show how fast she could adept to the game. Jerry Grol and Tim Sweens were the fabulous beaters, Harry had seen the flair they had as well, it wasn't completely Fred and George but they came close. I had selected three Chasers, I wanted an extra player in case of major injuries. Halie Jones and Steve Witterhair were going to be my first choices for Chasers but the Seeker position had been a struggle for more than three hours.

"You can always play Seeker yourself." Harry commented as he shuffled through his notes. Harry had come back from his afternoon training at the ministry early to help me make these selection and I really appreciated it. His notes were very insightful, he looked different at the players as I did, he was looking for team spirit and the willingness to learn as where I looked for tactic abilities and skill.

"I really can't. If you are right about the scouts coming to the matches I want to play Chaser, it's the position I love and want to play professional."

"But how are you going to solve this problem?"

"I don't know yet." I said sadly as I shook my head.

"You can keep all three of them for now, and make your selection based on a few practices." Hermione commented with out looking up from her essay. Harry and I stared at her, both our mouths hanging slightly open, it wasn't like Hermione to say something that makes sense about Quidditch. Books, yes, Quidditch, no.

"What?" she asked when she looked up.

"That's actually…"

"A very good idea." I finished for Harry.

"I tend to have some of them every now and than." Hermione said as she turned back to the two feet long potions essay.

Harry chuckled, like he remembered something funny. I wrote down the names for the team and a short explanation for the selection of three possible Seekers. Hermione had a very good point, I could select a Seeker later, when I had enough time to see which one had the most potential.

"I'm going to post this in the common room, I'll be back later." I said as I kissed Harry on the head.

"Yes, tell Ron he needs to do homework as well. It's not only helping George with field work." Hermione mumbled.

I chuckled and walked out of the library. Ron had agreed to help out George with the shop after all, starting with field testing and research, _what needed the Hogwarts student from a joke shop_, was becoming a serious study in the Gryffindor common room. Much to the annoyance of Hermione, even though she wasn't a prefect anymore she still wanted to maintain order, it was a character thing within her, I think.

I just left the library when I heard somebody calling my name.

"Ginny! Wait."

I sighed deeply, Harry's fan club.

"What is it Romilda?" I grumbled as I continued to walk to the tower.

"We wanted to ask you something?" she said as she caught up with me.

"What?"

"Well, what kind of potion are you giving Harry. It seems to work and I wanted to try it." She said airily. I stopped dead in my tracks, some of the giggling gang bumped into me.

"What?" I yelled.

"Don't deny it, you are giving him something. I tried two years ago, but I want to know how you do it"

I was completely shocked, where she got the nerve from was beyond me. I just stared at her, my anger and temper competing for top position. My hand twitched towards my wand but after some deep breaths the better part of me got the upper hand and I sighed, releasing some anger.

To calm down a bit more so that I was able to give her a proper sneer, I closed my eyes for a second and remembered last night, the prefects bathroom.

It had been such a nice bath after the Quidditch try-outs, Harry's hands all over me, first massaging the stress away, from my back and arm. Slowly he had been massaging every part of my body, legs, stomach, breast and last my clit. He had me squirm and scream beneath his fingers. Just before I felt my body crossing the edge of blissful oblivion he had stopped and push in without hesitation. His rock hard cock stretching me, his steady rhythm, his thumbs playing with my breast, it was like a little piece of heaven. He had been murmuring non-stop, sweet things, sexy things, some things that were down right dirty. Which to my own surprise I found really sexually stimulating. It hadn't been long before I was screaming for him to pump harder, to never stop, and with a whimpering sigh I released the warmth.

Slowly my body started to beg for a repeat as the memories flooded my mind and a smile started to spread across my face.

"Romilda, keep on dreaming girl." I sighed and turned away. I wasn't really angry with her, she was just plain stupid and boys crazy but having her harass me in the dormitories was enough. I didn't need her to stalk me or Harry during the day as well.

It wasn't very long before she caught up with me again, this time she went for gossip, maybe the hazy smile on my face betrayed something.

"Ginny, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suggested…"

"No, you shouldn't." I smiled.

"What is it like to be with Harry?" she pressed.

"Do you really want to know that?" I challenged her.

"Yes, I want to know everything."

"Everything?"

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"Really everything, it would be really hard on you, you know?" I felt like a cat watching a bird play too close by.

"Yes." She said without thought.

"Everything…" I mused as I walked on slowly. "Like that he has been shagging me every moment we have been alone all summer, or like the fact that he has already asked me to come and live with him after school, or the fact that he has already considered buying me an engagement ring, or maybe the fact that he has already made me a part of the Potter heritage? Things like that you mean? Or maybe the dirty, lovely, sexy words he says when he is with me, in me, doing me?"

I giggled and gave the portrait of the fat lady our password. Romilda's face was something that needed to be framed, it was priceless.

"What are you laughing about?" Ron asked when I sat down next to him.

"Romilda." I chuckled. "I think she is stunned."

"What? Who did it?"

"I did, but not with my wand."

"How did you do that?"

"With words, words she said she wanted to hear but never really wanted to know and understand."

Ron finally caught on.

"Asking about Harry again?"

"Yeah, she just won't give up, she has been doing it since I set foot out if the hospital wing."

"Did you tell Harry?"

"No, not yet. I was on my way posting my team selections and dragging your butt down to the library."

"What? Why?"

"Hermione says studying is a part of going to school and that it is necessary."

Ron looked stunned for few seconds, gaping like a fish.

"I'll do it later, George is counting on me." He recovered quickly and turning back to his list he was writing down on a piece of parchment.

I chuckled and got up, as I turned to get my books to do some studying myself I heard a tapping sound from the window.

"That's Andromeda's owl." Ron said.

I hurried to open the window for the beautiful grey owl.

"Hello you." I whispered as it landed on my shoulder. A letter was tied around it's leg, it was addressed to Harry and me. I quickly removed the letter and stroked the owl's soft feathers.

"You can eat something in the owlerly, I don't have anything here, I'm sorry."

The owl hooted and took off.

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"A letter for me and Harry. I'm going to bring this to him, care to join me?"

"No, Hermione would think I was going to do something." Ron shuddered and turned to a group of first-years that were being rowdy in the corner.

It took me a few minutes to race back to the library, I didn't see Romilda or her giggling group of friends anywhere. Which was a relieve if I was honest, I wasn't really in the mood for more harassment.

I found them at the door to the library, staring at Harry, whispering and giggling. I sighed and shook my head, wondering what it would take for them to stop and leave us alone.

"Your fan club want your attention." I said lightly when I sat down next to Harry. He looked very irritated and was glancing every few seconds towards the giggle gang.

Harry pulled me to him and kissed me, it was rough and hard at first as his irritation still had control of his actions, slowly he relaxed and the kiss became more gentle and lovingly.

When he released me he glanced to the girls that we still standing in the corner. There is a saying and if it was correct I would be dropping dead on that moment.

"At moments like those I wished I had gone to work for Kingsley and Arn and not return to school." Harry murmured.

"They were harassing me when I walked to the common room."

"Again?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, it doesn't bother me really."

"What did they want?" Harry asked.

"Firstly, knowing how I was able to slip you a love potion and which one I used."

"What?" Harry and Hermione both gasped at the same time. I just shrugged.

"That's just…" Harry fumed. He glared angrily towards Romilda, who was completely oblivious or stupid, she was batting her lashes at Harry.

"Wrong." Hermione finished.

"Don't worry about it, I don't mind." I shrugged.

"Ginny, they are suggesting that you need a potion to gain my attention, that's the extreme of wrong, evil, and stupid." Harry hissed.

"Yeah, Ginny, that's just really mean of her."

"I honestly don't care, I just walked away my mind lost in more important things."

"Like?"

"Last night."

Harry blushed a bit and I chuckled.

"Urgh, I so don't want to know about that?" Hermione muttered.

"Anyway, I found Ron, he's not coming down, and Andromeda's owl showed up, she send us this."

I held up the letter and gave it to Harry.

"You haven't opened it?" He asked.

"No, I thought you wanted to do that, we can read it together."

Harry smiled and opened the letter, inside we found a picture of Teddy. The little man was sleeping soundly, his little thumb in his mouth.

"He's growing fast." Harry breathed.

"Yeah, he's almost six months now." I whispered.

"What's Andromeda writing?" Hermione asked as she looked at Teddy's picture.

Harry opened the letter and put it down so that Hermione was able to read it as well.

_Dear Harry and Ginny,_

_I wanted to keep the two of you updated on Teddy. I have taken a few pictures of him last week, I'll send one along with this letter so you can see how fast he is growing._

_He already looks so much like his mother but I think he has the calm and relaxed state of mind from his father, Nymphadora was never this quiet, Teddy eats, sleeps and starts to play, he's really content. His morphing skills are getting more and more pronounced which makes life never boring with him around._

_Still, I think he is missing a father figure around, he's becoming a bit too spoiled. I really hope that once the two of you finish school, you'll become more active in raising him. Especially you Harry, __he needs you as a father figure and I'm sure you will be perfect in coaching him._

_Harry, thanks for inviting me and Teddy over for Christmas__, though it is a bit early. I wasn't sure I would ever want to celebrate Christmas again but I'm going to make sure that we are there. What I wanted to ask you is where are you going to celebrate it, I'm guessing at the Burrow, but if not let me know._

_Ginny, thank you so much for the gifts you send for Teddy, you are rapidly becoming his favorite aunt. He really enjoyed the muggle toys and I love the necklace you bought for him._

_I hope to see you all with Christmas, say hello to Ron and Hermione for me._

_Yours,_

_Andromeda._

I read the letter a couple of times, it was like Andromeda was torn between happiness and sadness, Teddy was her happiness but the fact that she really didn't want to celebrate Christmas again was a note that reminded me of what she had lost. In only a few weeks time she had lost her husband, daughter and son-in-law, it must be very hard for her to look forward to celebrations, like Christmas.

I wondered what Christmas was going to be like for us, for George and for my parents. They would feel the loss of Fred deeply during Christmas. Fred had always been very present during the holidays, leading George into pranks and mayhem.

"I wrote Andromeda yesterday about Christmas." I heard Harry explained to Hermione.

"But why?"

"Ginny thought it would be nice to celebrate Christmas at the Summer house, with the Weasleys, Teddy, Andromeda and Luna."

"Luna?" Hermione asked looking at me.

"Yeah, she will be alone with Christmas, her father will still be at St. Mungo's, I thought it would do her good to stay with us but the Burrow is too small for all of us so I suggested to move the celebration to the Summer house."

"Does Mrs. Weasley know?"

"Not yet, I'm writing her tonight." Harry said.

Hermione nodded and turned back to her essay, within seconds she was scribbling fanatically, completely focused on her work.

It was something we all needed to do, the massive piles of homework were no joke. The essays became more difficult as the theory became like a foreign language and the practical spell work was becoming more complicated.

Quickly my weeks were filled with studying and Quidditch practice. Three nights a week I trained my team, once a week Harry attended the session and watched from the ground for things that needed attention while I trained the team in flying formations. The general stamina of the whole team improved rapidly and I grew more and more confident that I had made the right selections.

Two whole days Harry was at the ministry for his auror training and at least two or three afternoons he was attending trials and hearings. I rarely saw him during the days, only late at night when he finished all his homework and his ministry work he had time for me or his friends.

At first I wasn't really bothered by it, I was too busy with everything that was going on to notice but as the weeks passed I started to get annoyed. He just was never there, if he wasn't for training at the ministry he left after class for London to attend some hearing.

As the first match approached I started to worry if Harry would be able to be there at all, for the last three Sunday's he had been gone from before breakfast until I had fallen asleep in front of the fire and he didn't show any sign of that he knew the match was this weekend.

"Ginny? What is wrong?" Hermione asked when on Tuesday before the match I angrily threw my bag down next to the sofa.

"Harry is gone again." I hissed.

"What? Where?"

"The ministry of course, where else."

"Ohh, what was so important that he had to leave tonight?" Ron asked. He had finally given into Hermione's request to actually do some studying and was now working through a huge piled of homework back-log.

"Dunno, and I really don't care, something much more important than spending time with me or his friends." I grumbled. I was really angry this time, Harry had cancelled our plans for the fourth time. On Sunday evening when he got back looking close to collapsing and like he hadn't slept for days, I decided to give him a piece of my mind. I got angry and yelled at him for leaving me alone all the time, he had promised that night that we would do something fun the next evening but he always cancelled. On Tuesday night we had planned to see if the room of requirement still worked. I had already been imagining what would be possible if the room still worked. It would be our little secret place but he had cancelled our plans again.

"Ginny, I'm sure he rather be with you than with Kingsley in that cold courtroom." Hermione said.

"You can't be sure of that." I snapped. "Harry doesn't have to be at the ministry, he just goes because he feels like he has to be there, that stupid guilt is still hanging over him. Did you knew that he has been spending more time at the ministry than in bed. Or than with me."

I had lost my patience with it. For weeks I had ignored it, maybe not really noticing it. Now it slowly cut wounds and I started to feel alone. Ron and Hermione were together every night, either sneaking around the castle for some alone time, or next to me on the sofa, cuddling. Around the castle you would find lovely couples kissing, hugging and laughing together. I was just walking around alone.

"Ginny, Hermione is right, Harry would much rather be with you." Ron said.

"Than he better start showing it because right now I feel very single." I snapped and got up. Recklessly I decided to continue with the original plans, I turned to the stairs and walked up to the dormitories to grab Harry's cloak, I didn't want people following me around.

I sneaked out the common room and headed for the seventh floor. When I reached the first step I heard a familiar voice.

"I don't know professor, he can be everywhere. We just can't find him. Today we walked into a trap again, it´s like he´s setting it up and than runs."

That was Harry's voice. I stopped and hid behind the suit of armor.

"I have been thinking about it a lot. I just can't think of any place where to look."

That was McGonagall's voice.

"Greyback is more cunning than I thought. Than we thought. Kingsley is stunned by the skill Greyback is showing."

"I think he has learned a lot from his time as a Death Eater. He learned how to keep a low profile and stay hidden." McGonagall whispered.

"We almost had him last Sunday. We had him trapped but he bit one of the aurors and in the distraction he fled." Harry sounded depressed.

"Does anyone know that you are hunting him this actively?" McGonagall asked. At that point they rounded the corner and walked through the corridor where I was hidden. One glance at Harry made me whimper in shock. He looked terrible, a large gash was bleeding just above his wrist and a bruise was dark blue on the left side of his face. It looked like he had been battling for days.

"Not outside the old order and the auror office, and I would like to keep it that way. Ron and Hermione both know that we have been tracking Greyback ever since the attack on the train and Ginny doesn't know anything. She thinks I'm attending hearings and trainings."

I winched as I realized Harry had been lying to me for weeks. It hurt badly, more than the day he left to hunt Voldemort, at least then I knew what he was doing.

"She won't thank you for lying to her, you know that." McGonagall said solemnly.

"I know, but I don't want her to worry about me. She has to be focused on the match and on her study. Specially with the scouts coming Sunday she can't be distracted. There is too much of her future at risk here. I'll tell her after the match."

"Okay, just don't expect her to be pleased or forgiving. I saw how angry she was when you felt this afternoon, I thought she was going to hex every student in this school."

"I know, she'll be angry but I hope she forgives me when she hears the reason."

I saw McGonagall smile motherly at him.

"Alright, now hurry to Poppy so that she can fix you up. Ginny must be waiting for you."

Harry nodded and hurried towards the hospital wing, I noticed he was limping a bit. The blood on the back of his left leg showed even more wounds. When McGonagall left for her office I slid down with my back against the wall. The reality of what I just heard hit me.

Harry was still hunting dark wizard, or werewolves. I knew deep down that he hadn´t told me because of my own good but still it was very painful to realize that he was lying to me. He had promised me the day after I woke up in the hospital wing that he wouldn´t go for revenge and let Kingsley deal with the attack, now I realized that he had broken that promise, I wouldn´t even be surprised if he was leading the hunt.

But as I watched Harry walk towards the hospital wing, limping and bleeding I was worried. He had looked terrible, blood and bruises had been covering him. Going by McGonagall´s reaction I concluded that this wasn´t the first time he came back like that. I worried about how many times he had come back from the ministry like this, wounded and me completely oblivious.

Why I had never noticed any wounds or bruises was easily answered, madam Pomfrey must have been patching him up every time.

I got up and hurried towards the hospital wing, I wanted to know how extensive his injuries where.

As I reached the door I was lucky enough to find it open, a small strip of light was visible. I stopped just out side and peered in. I was able to see Harry's naked torso while madam Pomfrey was tracing her wand over the wounds.

There were much more wounds than I initially had seen, three or four large gashed were visible on his wand arm, also on his back was a large bruise, the cut down his calf was deep and still bleeding.

"Kingsley is working you way too hard." I heard madam Pomfrey say. "This is the fourth time in a week that I'm patching you up, Potter. If you go on like this you'll break your father's record."

"I'm sorry." Harry mumbled.

"Well, at least these are all minor wounds in comparison to what you came in with last week."

"Yeah, I can't believe you were able to heal that so well, nobody noticed."

I felt my mouth drop open as my mind raced over the possible injuries they were talking about. He looked bad already, maybe I should be happy that he was keeping me out of this.

"Thanks, but please be more careful next time. There are curses I can't heal."

"I know." Harry said as he nodded.

It took madam Pomfrey half an hour to heal all his cuts and bruises, all that time I stood watching through the small opening of the door. It didn't matted how hurt or angry I was by the fact that he had lied, I just wanted to wrap my arms around him, hold him while madam Pomfrey murmured the incantations to heal his wounds. It was very painful to see him wounded like that, more painful than him lying for my own good.

When he was dressing himself in some clean clothes I walked away. I wandered aimlessly through the castle until I found a large window still in which I sat down. My mind was stuck on the fact the Harry was doing things much more risky than he wanted me to know.

I was a bit angry that he was risking his life, again. What was so important that he couldn't let Arn and Kingsley deal with it? With Voldemort it was his destiny, it had to be Harry, he had to finish it. I had never ever questioned his motives or his methods because deep down I knew he was doing the right thing, but this was different. Nobody expected him to do this, people wouldn't be surprised if they found out what he was doing now, but the people who mattered wanted Harry to have a peaceful life.

I was sure that Kingsley was telling Harry that he should stay at the caste and enjoy his life at school. I even was able to hear Arn arguing with Harry that he should stay with his friends. Then why on earth was Harry still facing deathly enemies? Was it because of me, because I was attacked, was he after revenge? That didn't sound like Harry at all, he was always against revenge, more the passive type but I couldn´t find a better explanation.

It was very late when I was tired enough to return to the common room. It was well after midnight and lessons would start early.

I slipped back into the common room where I saw Harry, Ron and Hermione whispering fast to each other. Still under the cloak I silently moved a bit closer.

"You should get the map, we will be able to find her on it." I heard Hermione said.

"But I'm not sure if she want to be found, the cloak is gone." Harry sighed.

"Harry, it's after midnight, something could have happened." Hermione argued.

"Ginny is capable of defending herself against any student. I just want to know why she wants to be left alone."

"She was angry before she left." Ron commented.

"What?" Harry gasped.

"Yeah, she was." Hermione nodded.

"Why?"

"Because you were gone again. You promised to be with her but instead you are more at the ministry than with any of us. I think Ginny just had enough of being alone."

"She knows that it is something I have to do." Harry said defensively.

Hermione sighed and looked at him sternly.

"Harry, why are you here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you come to school with us?" Hermione asked patiently.

"Because I need to finish some NEWTS for the auror training."

I gasped when an other wave of knives cut through my body. Hermione looked in my direction, I think she heard me but ignored it and returned her focus on Harry.

"Is that really the reason why you are at school?"

"Yeah."

"What about Ginny, what about being here with her, what about having a quiet year, together." Hermione argued heatedly.

"That too. She didn't want to come here alone. I promised to come with her but I told her that there would be times when I would be needed in London, she knows that."

"Harry, from what I remember you promised her to be here with her. To have a quiet year at school. Having fun and I even heard something about a bit of mischief."

"But I am here." Harry yelled. I could see on his face that he was getting frustrated.

"Harry, you haven't really been here with her. A few hours in the library doing homework and the one evening a week on the Quidditch pitch, that's all there have been for the last few weeks."

"I've been needed at the ministry."

"Is that really the reason why you have been running in and out the ministry every day?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry snapped.

"That I think there is a deeper reason why you are always gone. I think you just can't handle letting somebody else taking control again, you can't handle not knowing what is going on and you can't handle feeling out of control. We saw it last year and it's the same all over again. And you are hurting Ginny with it!"

Harry stood up in a swift movement, for a second I thought he was going to curse Hermione but he just looked at her. The anger and tension was darkening the room.

"You don't know anything." He hissed and he left the room. I heard his footsteps fade on the stairs to the dormitories. When I turned back Hermione was looking at my direction, she looked like she was apologizing to me.

I didn't got much sleep that night, or any other nights leading up to the match, I was either worrying about the scouts coming to the match, my team's performance or being angry and upset with Harry.

The morning after the fight he had with Hermione, Harry didn't say anything at all. The dark blue circles under his eyes told me he hadn't slept much. When he got back at night after his day of training he apologized to Hermione but he didn't want to tell me why. He hadn't noticed that I had been there at all.

What bothered me even more was the fact that he never took the time to ask me why I had taken the cloak, what had upset me so much that I didn't want his company.

The evening before the match Harry was back early.

"I thought you were training tonight?" He said as he let himself fall in the chair next to mine.

"Nah, we had a team meeting to discus tactics and to calm down a bit."

"I was already walking towards the pitch when I noticed it to be empty."

"Did you came back early to watch the practice?"

"Yes and no, I was planning on watching you yell at everybody but I had hoped that you would end early so that we would have some time together."

"Works out perfectly this way." I murmured, my mind already wondering why the sudden change.

"Aren't you happy that I'm here?" Harry asked as he noticed my mood.

"Oh yes, of course I am. It's just that you are gone so much, too much, I can't help but wondering why you suddenly want to spend the whole evening here."

Harry looked at my, I saw shock and pain rippling over his face. I instantly felt sorry I had said that out loud but it was the truth. Harry got up in a swift movement, I thought he was angry with me and was going to stalk away but instead he held out his hand.

"Come." He whispered.

I took his hand and let him lead me out of the common room, even out of the castle. For a long time we walked in silence, when we were at the other side of the lake Harry pulled out his wand and conjured a thick blanket.

"Come sit with me." He murmured.

I sat down next to him and stared out over the lake. After a minute or two he pulled me into his arms and pressed his face in my hair. I shivered softly when his breath reached my skin.

"Are you very angry with me?" He suddenly asked.

"Not very."

"but angry."

"A bit."

"I'm sorry." He whispered. He did look sorry but I wondered what he was sorry for, the lying, the constant risk he was putting himself in, the fact that he was away so often, there were many things he could be sorry for.

"You know you'll be forgiven anyway." I sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm angry at you for many things, many promises you are breaking, but you know that I can't stay angry with you for long. That's just not how love works."

"Than I'm very lucky I have you."

"Just don't forget it."

Harry nodded and kissed me softly. Despite the fact that I was still angry with him I felt peaceful, just sitting calmly by the lake, Harry's arms around me.

"I got a letter from you mom today." Harry said after a while.

"About what?"

"Christmas, she thinks we are planning this way to early but that she would consider celebrating it at the Summer House."

"That's something."

"There is something more."

"What?"

"I think she has been considering not celebrating it at all, like Andromeda. There was something in her letter, she wrote, _'I'm not sure it will be something to celebrate.'_ I think she talks about Fred, I think she feels like without him it just won't be Christmas anymore."

"I can understand that." I nodded. When I suggested to celebrate Christmas at the Summer house I had completely forgotten about Fred not being there. It wasn't that I didn't miss my brother, I missed him every step I took but he wasn't really gone, his spirit was still living with George. I had gotten used to the idea of having Fred around like that, over the summer when we visited the shop it was like old times again, only saver now Fred couldn't hex us. To be honest I had forgotten that mom and dad didn't knew.

"Maybe it's time to tell mom about Fred." I whispered.

"Maybe, but lets leave it to them. George and Fred will make the decision when it's the right moment."

"Thanks for arranging my Christmas ideas, I really hope I'm right about Luna and Charlie."

"Of course, I'll do anything for you."

I knew somewhere deep down that it was the truth but at that moment it was hard for me to see past the lies and hours I spend alone. Would he really do anything for me, like giving up his time at the ministry, I wasn't sure.

"Are you nervous?" Harry suddenly asked.

"About what?"

"About tomorrow?"

"Oh, the match you mean."

"Yeah."

"Not yet, I always get nervous the morning before the match."

"Not even about the scouts coming?"

"Not yet, but if you go on like that I will be."

Harry laughed loudly and hugged me closely.

"You don't have to be nervous, you'll do great. Have you selected a Seeker?"

Harry had easy talking, of course I was getting nervous. The closer the match came the more I felt my knees going soft. I didn't sleep well that evening, I worried about the match and as the clock steadily moved to sunrise I felt the butterflies take over. I fell asleep around three in the night and woke up very early, just as the sun came over the hills.

By the time I entered the bathroom to wash and get dressed the butterflies had taken complete control over my body. I finally understood what Ron had been going through the years he played Quidditch. I felt sick and weak, my stomach was continuously doing back-flips.

I couldn't put my finger in the reason of my sudden nervousness, but I think it was that I felt the weight of my future pressing down on me. It wasn't only the Quidditch cup and the House cup that could be won this year, it was also my future as a professional Quidditch player.

I found Ron, Hermione and Harry waiting for me in the common room.

"Good, lets eat." Ron said as he saw me coming down the stairs. The thought of food made me gag, I so wanted to turn back to my bed.

Harry noticed and wrapped his arm around.

"You don't have to worry, you'll be great."

I mumbled something I couldn't even understand myself but I let Harry lead me down to the breakfast table. We sat down next to Luna and Neville.

"Good weather for the match." Neville commented as he looked up to the ceiling. I followed his graze and saw that the weather was indeed good, no sun, soft wind and no rain, just a dull grey sky. I nodded but didn't dare to speak.

"You look green." Luna whispered.

"She's a bit nervous." Harry said as he rubbed my back.

For fifteen minutes I stared at my plate and the piece of toast that was on it but I couldn't force myself to eat it. Around me people were talking excitedly about the match or the news, I didn't know, I wasn't listened. Internally I was getting more and more frustrated with myself, I was never nervous, I was never doubting my abilities, why on earth did I have to start now!

"Ginny, you need to eat something." Harry murmured in my ear.

"Can't." I whispered.

Harry looked very concerned at me.

"Ginny! Ginny!"

I looked up to see Colleen running towards me.

"What is it? Why the panic?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing is wrong, it's wonderful. There are going to be scouts at the match. I just saw them arrive. Three scouts."

I didn't knew what to say, I felt my heart sick even more and my stomach turning again.

"Did you see which teams?" Neville asked her.

"Not all but Gwennog Jones is there, from the Harpies. She's signed to be team captain for the next five years, she's looking for fresh talent."

"The Holyhead Harpies?" I gasped.

"Yeah, isn't it great!" she sang and danced away.

"You'll do great." Harry whispered again.

By the time I was heading to the changing rooms I hadn't eaten anything and felt more sick by the minute. It didn't help much that I walked pass the scouts when I left the great Hall, it reminded me off what I was about to do.

Harry walked with me down towards the pitch, when he suddenly turned to the gate I pulled him back.

"Where are you going?"

"Ministry, I have to be there this morning, I'll be back before noon." Harry said like there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"What?" I yelled. "I'm going to play my first match as Captain and you are going to the ministry!"

I was shocked to say the least, I felt myself and all the pain and anger from the last few days falling apart.

"I have to go, I promised Kingsley to attend…"

"Harry! Stop Lying to me!" I screamed. My temper was taking control and all kind of rational think had left me.

"What? I'm going to London to attend the hearing."

"STOP LYING! I know you aren't going to attend any hearing, I know all about your hunt for Greyback."

Harry took a step back, looking shocked.

"Yes, Harry. I know about your field trips, the injuries you let madam Pomfrey heal! About you not being honest with me, or your friends. I saw the wounds, I heard you!"

"How?" Harry said but realization hit soon. "the cloak? You saw me coming back."

"I heard you talking to McGonagall, I also heard you talk to Hermione!" I spat. "You lied to me!"

"Ginny, I'm so…"

"Stop apologizing, it won't do any good. Do you have any idea how much it hurt, how much it hurts knowing you have lied to me, knowing that you are willingly risking our future together for a stupid thing as revenge."

"It isn't about revenge." Harry tried.

"I don't care anymore. As long as you care more about the ministry and your pitiful revenge than me, I don't care any more." I hissed. I was fuming with anger. "This is going to be one of the most important moments in my life, but you go on, see if you can get a new scar. Apparently that's more important than your girlfriend."

"Ginny…"

"I thought you made me a promise, Harry. Think about that the next time you are willingly getting bruises or cuts." I yelled. I turned around and walked away, fuming, hissing, and boiling with pain and anger.

Halfway I turned around to see if he was still standing there but he was already gone. Deep down I hoped he had changed his mind and went into the stands with Ron and Hermione but I worried that he was angry and walked out anyway, hunting Greyback to release some steam. I turned back to the changing room, half sad, half angry.

When I reached the changing rooms I tried to calm down enough to focus on the match, I would deal with the anger and pain later. The team was more important now, Colleen had been so excited about the scouts and I knew she had the same plans for the future as me, so I couldn't let her down due to my personal problems.

Still the anger made me a bit reckless, I changed the game plan a bit.

"Okay! Is everybody dressed and ready?" I called as I tied the last of my protective gear around me.

"Yes." Was murmured through the room.

"Good, I'm sure Colleen has told you all about the scouts, now that's no reason to get more nervous or play differently. We have had some good practice sessions the last two week and I'm sure we can win from Slytherin with our eyes closed."

I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes, driving away any residue of anger, it didn't work as well as I hoped. I wanted a release for the anger and I knew aggressive piece of Quidditch would be perfect.

"Now, I know the Slytherin captain has been watching us lately. That's why we are going to change our game a bit, we are going to play more aggressive and with a lot more speed. I want the beaters to aim and hit hard. Don't feel sorry for any Slytherin getting hurt. Us chasers shall fly faster and move more quickly around the pitch. The Quaffle should be passed around faster, the scouts will expect that of us as well, stay sharp and focused. Gill, you are going to catch that Snitch no matter what, if that means you have to curse your opponent, than do it."

They all gaped at me, I had always been talking about flawless tactics and techniques, this was the first time I added aggression to the mix, maybe it wasn't the perfect timing. I sighed and turned to the team again.

"We have practiced techniques and tactics every practice session, it should be automatic by now. All we have to add is some aggression and speed. Slytherin doesn't know what hit them."

Out on the pitch the wind was a bit more consistent, but it wasn't enough to be of any influence. I didn't dare to risk a glance to where I knew Ron and Hermione would be, I was afraid that if Harry wasn't there with him I would loose my clear head.

I shook hands with the Slytherin captain and took off. I think I played my best game ever, the whole team did. The speed was good and within a few minutes we were up 30 points, Slytherin team just wasn't fast enough.

Typical to Slytherin, they started to play dirty. Joan Willison, a Slytherin Chaser tried to crash into Colleen so that her teammate could make the score, but Colleen was much better than that and was able to dodge Willison and make the save anyway. Between the beaters there was a lot of small fouls and painful clashes but somehow my boys came out unscratched. I started to be really proud of my team.

The score was 70 to 20 for us when the whole stadium gasped. I turned around quickly to see what was going on. At the other side of the pitch, Gillian Pitt, our Seeker, was speeding towards the teachers stand. I followed her gaze in search for the Snitch, it was there, just above the stand. The Slytherin Seeker was following her, but it was clear that he hadn't seen the snitch yet. He was busy glancing around to see what Gill had seen.

It only lasted for a few seconds, Gill was faster and much more accurate, her fingers closed around the small golden ball and the whole stadium erupted in a wave of noise.

Filled with happiness and sheer joy I hugged Gill closely.

"You did great!" I squealed. "I knew you had it in you!"

I was jumping up and down, my first match as captain and we won.

"Ginny! We did it. It was perfect!" Colleen screamed as she ran into me.

"I know, you were perfect as well, some nice saves."

When I let Colleen go I saw Harry standing at the gate of the pitch, waving his cloak and smiling brightly. I looked from his face to the cloak and back again, it was like a muggle light bulb was turned on in my head. He had never left the grounds, he had been watching the match from under his cloak. But why?

I was about to walk towards him and ask him when Professor McGonagall called me.

"Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Hellworn, could you two please come with me for a second."

Colleen and I looked at each other, what would she want? It was a question that was readable on both our faces. I glanced at Harry again but he just winked.

Colleen and I followed Professor McGonagall to a secluded office next to the changing room, it was a office available for the captains to have some thinking time. McGonagall held the door open and let us in.

"Ladies, this is Gwennog Jones, captain and scout from the Holyhead Harpies. She wants to talk to you two." McGonagall said as she introduced the sweet athletic looking woman sitting in the chair behind the desk.

"Mrs. Jones, this is Ginny Weasley and Colleen Hellworn."

"Very nice to meet you two. Please call me Gwen."

It was a bit of a awkward introduction as both I and Colleen were a bit star struck but Gwen didn't gave it any attention, probably used to it by now.

"Firstly I want to congratulate you girls on winning today, it was an excellent match."

"Thanks." I mumbled.

"You are team captain, aren't you, Ginny?"

"Yes." I actually blushed when I looked up to answer.

"You've got a good team together."

"Thanks."

"I heard about your selecting tactic, specially with your Seeker, very insightful. You've got some skill when it comes to coaching, selecting and tactic. I'm very impressed."

I blushed even more deeply. It was a great feeling to have such a huge Quidditch player recognized my skills as captain but I wasn't used to compliments.

"Colleen, I thought your goal keeping skills were outstanding, I believe this is your first year on the team right?"

"Yeah, Ginny selected me."

"A good choice, how did you make that one? I'd think you had a lot of kids to choose from."

"Not so many, a lot of the students trying out didn't have the stamina or skill. From the five last, Colleen showed to have stamina and an ability to learn really fast." I explained.

Gwen nodded and looked thoughtfully at Colleen.

"What year are you in, Colleen?" she asked.

"Fifth."

"Any plans for the future? It is your OWL year right?"

"Yes, I have been following class to become a curse breaker but I am hoping to play professional Quidditch." Colleen blushed brightly.

"As keeper?"

"Yes."

"Well, you have the technique and as Ginny said the ability to learn quickly. I saw in the match a very good ability to anticipate fouls and distracting moves from your opponent. It's something that a Keeper needs."

"Thank you." Colleen whispered.

"You don't have to be so shy, I won't bite. What I am going to is ask you to keep me informed on your play, I want pictures, letters and if possible stories from others on your play. You are too young to be signed now and you have to finish school first but I'm looking for a keeper. Our keeper is going to retire soon, if you keep improving like this I might want you replacing her."

"Really?" Colleen gasped.

"Yes, really."Gwen smiled.

"Wow, thank you. I will keep you informed, maybe madam Hooch wants to write a report as well." Colleen beamed.

Gwen handed her an address to which she would be able to send her letters to and wrote down what she wanted to know over the next two years, she also gave Colleen a schedule of special trainings days. These days were organized so that young selected Quidditch players could train with the team to show their improvements. Five minutes later she asked Colleen to leave us.

"Ginny, I have something a bit more serious to discus with you." Gwen said as she turned back to me. "I know from a very reliable source that you want to play professional after school and that source also informed me about your multi-talented skills. I believe you played the Seeker position very well."

"She did, a bit over two years ago." McGonagall inserted.

"Which position do you prefer?" Gwen asked me.

"Chasing, but if professional playing means I have to play Seeker I would be happy to do that as well."

Gwen smiled at me and shook her head.

"That won't be necessary, although a team member that can play both positions is very useful. Anyway, I would like you to come to our winter trainingscamp during your Christmas holiday. We have a weekend long camp just after new years eve and I want you to join us so I can see if you fit in with the team."

"Really?" I echoed Colleen's words.

"Yes." Gwen chuckled. "I 'm in desperate need of new good Chasers and I think you'll do perfectly. If you want to come, that is."

"Of course I want to come. I'll be there."

"That makes me happy, I can't give you details now, because of safety issues we haven't selected an location yet but I'll send you the details shortly before Christmas."

Gwen and I shook hands and exchanged contact details. When I returned to the changing rooms I was bouncing with happiness. I was given the chance of a life time, to join the Holyhead Harpies with out having to beg for it. I took my shower while whistling a tune and wondering how Harry would react to this great news. All my anger with him had been wiped away by Gwen and I couldn't wait to tell him everything.

With my mind so full of Quidditch I didn't pay attention to my surroundings as I raced up to the broom shed to tuck away my broom. I wanted to be back in the common room as soon as possible and tell Hermione, Ron and Harry the big news. I leaned in so I could place my broom next to Colleen's comet when I felt two hands grab me from behind.

"What the…! Let me go!" I screamed, I tried to see who it was but I couldn't. I wiggled my arms to try and get to my wand.

"It's not there." I heard a very familiar voice say.


	32. It's called balancing

_**Hey, all! I'm back with the next chapter, soory about the cliffy in the last chapter... I thought it was nice... next chapter is a Valentine's gift...Enjoy!**_

_**I want to thank every reviewer...please keep them coming!**_

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**32. It's called balancing.**

"Let me go!"

"Shhh, people might hear you. You'll spoil the surprise."

A set of fingers tickled over my side making me squirm and scream even louder.

"Harry, stop it!" I screamed again.

Suddenly a cloak was wrapped around me and I was spun around.

"How did you know it was me?" he demanded.

"Besides that I recognized your voice, my body knows your fingers pretty well. So sneaking up on me is a no-no."

"That's fair enough." Harry said as he pulled me into a kiss. It was a beautiful second of oblivion, sadly it didn't last long, Harry quickly pulled back and as those green eyes met mine I remembered the moments before the match.

"I'm sorry." Harry whispered. I wasn't ready to except his apology that easily, he had been lying to me, I wanted to make sure that it never happened again, not even for my own good.

"For what?" I asked. I tried to keep my voice friendly but it sounded a bit harsh anyway.

"For lying to you to start with but also for not being here with you often enough, I'm also sorry for not talking to you about everything."

"What about being sorry for risking your life again?"

"That's a part of it too, I am sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly, I think."

"And what about earlier? Wanting to leave for the ministry while I was playing the biggest game of my life?"

"For that I'm not sorry, it was a lie, yes but it was to reach a certain goal to benefit you."

"What?"

Harry smiled patiently at me.

"I'll tell you later, now I have a surprise for you first."

"Harry, you know that you are in trouble and have a lot of explaining to do before you are allowed to surprise me again."

"I know but your surprise will make it a lot easier to explain and a lot more comfortable." His voice was husky and his eyes were shining with that knee-weakening light.

I smiled and shook my head, there was never going to be away for me to stay angry with this charming man. I took his hand and crawled completely under his cloak. He wrapped his arm around me and lead me into the castle.

Having Harry's arm around me again made me forget everything, the only thing I was able to feel, think off or pay attention too. That was why I didn't really noticed where we had been walking and where we were heading to. When we rounded a corner I suddenly recognized the tapestry on the wall, the dancing trolls.

Three times Harry lead me past the wall, three times I heard his mutter something, after the third time a door started to form. The door looked exactly the same as it had done last year and the year before that.

"Is it still there?" I breathed.

"Come and see." Harry said as he pulled me towards the door.

Slowly I walked in, half afraid of what might still be lurking there, fire and dark wizards but as I walked through I saw a room, a beautiful decorated room. The room reminded me of the master bedroom in the Summer house, only there was also other furniture like a sofa and a table. It all looked really comfortable.

After hearing what had happened in this room I was surprised that it still existed but I was in complete awe that it still worked so brilliantly. It had been a safe place for me last year and it still felt safe, like home.

Harry pulled of the cloak as he closed the door.

"What do you think?" He asked as he hang his cloak on the doorknob.

"I'm thinking that you have a lot of explaining to do." I said as I sat down on the sofa. I pulled my feet up and wrapped my arms around my knees. I tried to look away from him, letting him know that I was serious about this but I failed, it was impossible to not look at Harry Potter. The more I was with him the more I started to feel drawn to him, like a magnet.

Harry's face fell a bit as he sighed sadly.

"I know." He said as he sat down next to, he mimicked my posture and stared at me. "I don't know really where to begin."

"Start with today, that would be the most confusing."

To my surprise and annoyance Harry laughed. I tried to glare at him but seeing him laugh so widely made me happy.

"Today was for your own good."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That conversation, or shouting match between me and Hermione you witnessed open my eyes to what I was doing to you, I was angry when I walked away, angry with myself for not noticing it and not listening to people pointing it out to me. I wasn't sure what to do next, when I paid attention I saw that it was hurting you. I vowed that I would try to do better and be there for you. I was never planning on not watching the match, of course not, it was your big moment. Voldemort himself could be resurrected and I wouldn't let him keep me away from your big match."

"Then why?"

"Because you were so damn nervous." Harry laughed.

"What!"

"Ginny, you came down that staircase looking even more green than Ron ever did this morning. You wouldn't eat, you wouldn't listen to people telling you it would be alright, you were barely able to walk. I wanted to help you, to make you feel better but I couldn't do it like I had done with Ron. When we walked out I concluded that the only way to make you forget the nervousness was to make you angry, to play on your temper and that was the only way to make you really angry."

"I was. You were so damn lucky I love you because I would have cursed you to oblivion otherwise."

"I know, I'm very aware of you cursing and jinxing abilities, I even kept my wand in my hand and ready to protect myself but from what I heard and saw it was worth it."

"What do you mean? What did you hear?"

"You flew an amazing match, better than I have ever seen you fly."

"Thanks."

"I watched the match from the teachers box. Next to Mrs. Jones, she was very taken with your flying abilities but also with your technical insight. She and McGonagall talked about you a lot and you were having a meeting with her afterwards."

"Colleen did too." I whispered. With Harry talking about the match and the meeting afterwards the amazement of what had happened during that meeting returned and I was almost bursting to tell him.

"What did she say, Gwenog Jones I mean?"

"She asked Colleen to keep her updated and come to the special training days, she's very interested in Colleen as a possible keeper."

"And you?" Harry pressed.

"She invited me to join the team on a camp after the new year for a few days. She wants to see if I fit in the team."

"That's very good." Harry smiled.

"Yeah, I'm really happy about it."

"Of course, it's a very good opportunity." Harry nodded.

We sat in silence for a while, staring at the flames of the cozy fire in front of us, I waited for Harry to start the rest of his explanation. From the corner of my eye I saw him opening his mouth and closing it again, like he started to say something but thought the better of it. This repeated a few times before he sighed and got up. For a second I was afraid that he would walk out but instead of turning towards the door he started to pace in front of the fire. I knew pacing was a habit of Harry, it came out when he needed to think or when he was struggling with something, just like ruffling his hair, but that was a inherited habit, according to Sirius's stories. I decided to wait patiently.

"It isn't about revenge." He started in a whisper. "Although, if I get the chance I'll make sure he won't forget it."

"Than what is it, Harry? Sometimes it's like you can only think about things outside the walls."

"I'm not sure. When you were starting to heal from that curse I was able to focus again on what was going on with Greyback, the Death Eaters and the ministry, it all feels so important."

"More important than being with me, or your friends?"

"Of course not, but I think Hermione was right."

"I didn't understood what she meant."

Harry looked at me, he stopped walking and sat down next to me again.

"I need a drink." He muttered.

Suddenly two goblets with wine appeared on the table, it made both Harry and me smile. Harry leaned forward and grabbed the goblets, handing one to me. I sniffed the wine carefully, the scent reminded me of the vacation, it was the same wine. I took a slow sip and enjoyed the taste.

I looked at Harry, his eyes were sad but determined, on his face a slight frown from thinking. When he put down the goblet he sighed.

"I'm going try and explain this to you but I'm not sure if I can, it feels complicated. More than I thought. Do you know how Dumbledore taught me how to defeat my enemy, in whatever form he was that moment?"

"No."

"He dropped clues, hints, side-marks, from the first year on. He explained how something worked so that I could use it later, he would say something that raised questions but never gave any answers. Leaving me, with help from Ron and Hermione to figure it out. Slowly I learned along the way. I…I never felt comfortable with it, really. I always hated the half truths, the feeling that he wasn't telling everything, that he deliberately kept things from me. Of course he did but I really hated it. Last year, during the trip we got our hands on Skeeter's book. I found out that he never told me anything, not about him living in the same village as my parents, about his past, about me or about his history with Grindewald. I was really hurt by the fact that he knew my parents, lived in the same village and never told me about them. It felt like he had betrayed me, giving only half truths, it made me doubt myself, it always have. God, I really hated the fact that I always felt left out of the important things, things that I thought were important to me while they wanted me to offer up my life for the greater good."

Harry shook his head and smile ruefully.

"After my shouting match with Hermione I realized that I was having the same problem again. She was right, as always of course, I'm afraid to feel left out again, that people want me to fight for them but in the mean time keeping me in the dark. I don't want to be left out again, I'm keeping so close to the action to prevent that, that I have lost a bit focus on what is really important. I also think that Hermione is right about an other thing, I'm so used on being on a quest that having nothing to do, besides studying and having fun, is difficult. I feel a bit useless."

"Harry how can you feel useless. You have done so much, given up so much for our world. Hell you saved our way of living, my life, my future or the future of many. You can be useless even in your next life, even if you did nothing for the next hundredth years."

He smiled at me sweetly.

"It sounds so much better when you say it."

"Anyone will tell you that."

"Yes, I know but that's not all, it's like whenever I stay here for a few days I have the feeling I missed so much of what is going on with Greyback, the Death Eaters and the trials, that I'm failing Kingsley, Arn and the wizarding community. It feels like I should be there, that they expect me to be there, it's not true of course but it feels like it. Kingsley and McGonagall are both saying that I should let it go and enjoy my freedom."

"Than why don't you?"

"Dunno, it just doesn't feel good." Harry shrugged.

"Can't you see that it's hurting you, that it's hurting us?"

"I do now, I didn't realize it before. I was just too focused on finishing it, on finishing the dangers that we were still in, I was… I am still stuck in that 'it is war time' mode. I think that I'm now starting to realize that there will never be complete peace, there will always be a dark wizard or a danger to hunt after."

Harry sighed and took an other sip of wine.

"I don't know what to do about it, how to get out." He said.

"Maybe you should relax, you know Kingsley will inform you on anything that is happened, you are there already two days a week. Isn't there anything else you could focus on, to make that your quest, something that keeps you a bit more close to me?" God, I hate sounding like I was begging him.

"Yes, there is." He whispered. His arms wrapped around me and he pulled me to him, his lips crashed against mine. He kissed me deeply, I could feel everything he was trying to communicate to me, that he was sorry, really sorry but also that he also felt confused.

"You'll have to help me with it, but for the next countless years I'll try and make my new quest into making you happy. I don't know how to do it, so you'll have to speak up when I'm loosing track but I'll try."

"I will." I promised with a soft kiss. "Harry, will you tell me why you are hunting Greyback and why you have kept it from me?"

Harry stared into the fire, I could see on his face that the thought of Greyback brought back the anger.

"Like I said, it wasn't only about revenge." He whispered.

I nodded and kissed his forehead softly.

"I heard Arn and Kingsley discussing a possible hiding place, the day after you woke up and kicked me out. Arn was assembling a party to hunt down the werewolves, he asked if I wanted to come along. I knew I should have said no but hearing that foul name again made me think of you and how you looked that morning, I wanted nothing more than to come back to the castle and to tell you that the bastard was in Azkaban."

Harry sighed and looked at me.

"You see, I didn't want revenge for me but for you. I wanted you to know that you had nothing to be afraid off."

"Harry, I've never been afraid of Greyback, or the Death Eaters, I thought you knew that." I whispered.

His eyes widened with surprise and he shocked his head.

"I thought I knew but your dreams... When you where in the hospital wing that first week, you were dreaming, screaming in your sleep. You were having these very intense feverish nightmares. You.."

"Harry, sweetheart, I wasn't having nightmares about Greyback hurting me, or death Eaters hurting me."

"What were the nightmares about?" he asked.

"You, me loosing you. Me not being able to save you, seeing you fight and die, seeing Death Eaters torturing you and me not being powerful enough to prevent it. I even saw our kids murdered, I don't even know what they are going to look like."

"I just assumed you were dreaming about the attack. I wanted to end your nightmares. It slowly became an obsession to find and finish Greyback."

"Did you get hurt much?"

"Almost every time. Once, twice a week. We have been stupid about it, always walked into traps or being out numbered. I think, and Arn agrees that we were to eager to finish it and to more on a whim that thinking things properly through. Only once did we actually found Greyback. Arn got hurt badly during that fight, just like you he had his back to his enemy and got cursed. I had to apparate him to St. Mungo's, he was okay after a day of bed rest, for me it were mostly cuts and bruises."

"I heard madam Pomfrey talk about a particular bad one." I murmured.

Harry nodded.

"Tell me, please?"

"I lost focus and got hit by a curse it knocked me out cold and broke a few bones, Kingsley had to bring me in. I thought that Kingsley would tell you or that I had to stay overnight. I knew you would get angry with me."

"Why did you never tell me?"

"Firstly because I was afraid you'd be very angry with me, but after that curse I thought that maybe it was better to tell you. It wouldn't be fair to you to hear about me being in the hospital while you think I'm safely at the ministry. By that time you were so focused on Quidditch that I didn't want to distract you. Your future is so important that I didn't want to do anything to take it away from you. I was planning on telling you after the match."

"Harry, when are you going to realize that my future is with you and that if you get yourself killed my future will not exist anymore."

Harry shook his head at me, he looked sad.

"I hate it when you think like that." He sighed. "Even if I don't survive you should be living your life happily, that's why I wanted you to focus on Quidditch and on school."

I released my legs and crawled up to him, straddling his legs and grabbing his face between my hands, making sure he looked at me.

"Harry, I don't want a life with out you, so you better make sure that you either stop doing dangerous things or keep you brain together." I kissed him softly, after I pulled away I looked at him, I tried to look seriously. "And I much rather you stop the dangerous things and stay with me."

Harry smiled ruefully at me.

"I'm training to be an auror, danger comes with the job."

"I know, but you can be an auror after school when you come home to me every night and let me heal your wounds."

Harry chuckled.

"You think I'm joking?" I yelled as I tickled his sides.

"Yes." He managed to hiss.

"I'm not!" I yelled as I struggled against his hands, he was trying to catch mine. "I'll learn every healing spell or potion I know to keep you alive."

Harry stopped immediately and looked at me with wide eyes.

"I mean it Harry, if you don't stop putting yourself in danger that I better shape up to make sure you survive your injuries."

"You have Quidditch and school to focus on." Harry pointed out.

"I can do all three things at once." I argued, sticking my nose up in the air.

"Of course you can." Harry laughed as he pulled me to him. I was suddenly remembered of the fact that I was straddling his lap, the inside of my legs brush past his and I come to a stop above his bulge that was quickly growing hard.

I leaned forward to kiss him, first softly but very soon his tongue was begging for entrance. Softly his tongue brushed mine, my lips and my tongue again. It was bliss at the purest.

I pulled Harry's shirt up slightly, just enough to slip my hands under and brush my hands over his abs. it made him shiver slightly.

"Harry, I want you." I whimpered as I broke the kiss. My body was trembling and I was getting soaked.

"Hmm, I want you too, I missed you." Harry murmured as he picked me up. At the end of the room stood a large king sized bed, where Harry laid me down on it and slowly he lay down next to me. His fingers started to trace the line of buttons on my shirt, one by one opening them.

I heard him take in a short gasp as he push my shirt away. I wondered what made him gasp, the scars had been all but gone, one red line still covered my stomach, so my immediate thought was that he was turned off by the scar but when our eyes met there was nothing but pure desire in his. I took a glance down to see what he made him gasp, my bra was missing.

I remembered that I had forgotten to pack a clean one to wear after Quidditch and after the match I found out that I had forgotten it, after the shower I decided to get dressed anyway and leave the sweaty bra off. Now it seemed like a good call.

Harry moved closer and I felt his lips brushing my ear and the soft sensitive skin just below. His hand slowly moved over my stomach to where my breast started. I moaned softly as the pads of his fingers brushed my nipples.

His lips slowly travelled south, over my collarbone, down to my breast where he took some time to explore them with his tongue. After a few minutes of teasing Harry's lips moved down even more. Placing kisses in a trail down until he reached the hem of my knickers, which were ending a bit above my jeans. His fingers fumbled with the button for a second and in one fast move Harry removed me jeans together with my underwear. Clear of all clothing he continued to trail kissed until he reached my most sensitive skin.

I gasped as he ran his tongue over me. My fingers grabbed hold of the sheets, steadying myself from the jerky moves I felt my body make. Harry continued exploring me with his tongue, every time I moaned loudly he would repeat the former movement. He was driving my insane and he knew it.

"Harry, please." I moaned.

He looked up and smiled wickedly. Agonizing slowly I felt him push one finger in, his tongue still playing with my clit.

"More." I breathed.

I felt a second finger go in, his teeth grazed my pleasure button at the same time. Dang! That boy knew how to drive me crazy. He played with me until he had me begging for release. Suddenly he stopped and raised himself onto his knees. His eyes were roaming my body.

"You look so beautiful." He breathed.

"Harry, you are still wearing clothes." I complained. He smiled and removed them quickly.

"Better?" he asked as he crawled back on the bed.

"Much." I whimpered. Slowly he moved over me, trailing kisses back up until he reached the top of my head, it made me giggle. I opened my legs a bit and wrapped his legs, my toe brushing the inside.

He didn't enter me immediately like I wanted too, instead he moved back a bit and dipped down to kiss the base of my throat. He was trailing kisses all the way up again, this time he rubbed his body over mine, as he reached my lips I felt the head of his cock brushing my wet flesh. He repeated that motion every time reached up higher, pressing his hardness deeper into me until he was fully filling me.

I honestly can't remember screaming but I guess I did every time he pulled out and pushed back in again. The base of his cock clashing with my clit. It was an ancient bliss.

Our eyes met, although I had to fight to keep them open and all the unspoken feelings of the past few days flowed between us. This was the reconnection I had been searching. This was what made us, us, the deepest connection of love. It had been gone so long.

I know it sound like our relation is build on sex only but that's not what I mean, it's like in those moment we just know. Whenever during the normality of living doubt started to seep in, this was what pulled us back to being one, to being us. No conversation, shouting match or weeping session could reach this soul binding connection.

Fighting as I might, my eyes closed on their own accord as I felt Harry push in even deeper, he picked up pace and his panting became louder. I lifted up my leg so he could push in even deeper.

"God! Ginny!" he groaned as I felt him exploding inside me, the feeling of his warmth spilling inside me pushed me over the edge as well.

Panting heavily Harry rolled over and pulled me along. I unwrapped my legs and lay against him. We both sighed deeply as we regained some sort of consciousness. After a very long time we were back on earth, softly kissing and smiling at each other.

"I'm still sorry." Harry whispered as he kissed my nose.

"For…?"

"For not being there for you these last few weeks. I don't even know what is going on in your life, except for Quidditch."

"You really have been out of it, haven't you."

Harry ducked his head and blushed a bit with shame, after a while he nodded.

"Sorry." He muttered. I laughed, I couldn't help but laugh, he looked so cute.

"Harry, stop looking so damn cute. We can talk now, what do you want to know?"

"Everything." He said as his finger trailed over my arm. "I heard Hermione talk about Romilda harassing you again."

"That's honestly nothing really. She's just bugging me about you."

"What does she wants?"

"Besides what you've already heard, the potions thing and all, mainly she wants to know how it is to be in and how to get into your pants."

Harry snickered. "How are you dealing with that?"

"What do you think." I smiled. "I'm telling her exactly how it is to be in your pants but I'll never tell her how to get there."

We both laughed out loud, it felt very librating to be laughing freely again, it had been a very long time since we had done that in this school.

"What about classes?" Harry asked as he stopped laughing.

I shrugged. "It's what I expected from my NEWTS year."

"And that was?"

"Bloody difficult, except for defense, that I learned from the best." I laughed. Harry joined me but shook his head after a few seconds.

"No, Seriously." I defended myself. "Defense isn't difficult, the non-verbal spells make it more complicated but I can isolate my thoughts pretty well and focus on the incantation only. I never expected charms to be so difficult but I'm enjoying learning the healing charms and I like transfiguration but it's just too difficult. Even with Elian being very patient."

"You like Elian a lot." Harry commented.

"Yes, she has become a friend when I was in the hospital wing."

"I like her as well, she's a talented witch, she's got a wit about her I like." Harry agreed.

"I like Colleen as well, she's like Luna only not dreamy." I murmured thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I knew you would like her."

"Don't you like her?" I asked, his voice didn't sound as enthusiastically as it did with Elian.

"I don't know her well enough yet, I think she's a nice girl and if you like her than I trust your judgment." Harry said, his voice sounded annoyingly cold.

"Is there something about her I don't know?"

"Do you really want to know?" He asked.

"Yeah, because it sounds like it's important to you, so I want to know."

Harry looked at me for a while sometimes he kissed me softly. I was wondering what he was thinking about, every minute or so he opened his mouth and closed it again, like he didn't know what to say.

"Harry, whatever it is, I can deal with almost anything." I whispered, to prove that I wasn't worried I kissed his neck and shoulder.

"Arn and one of the aurors arrested Colleen's father a few days ago." He rushed out.

"What?" I gasped.

"Colleen is a descendant of one of the purest bloodlines in wizarding history, much like the Black bloodline. Her father has always supported the cause of cleaning out the wizarding world from muggle-borns and half-breeds."

"But Colleen is so nice, so sweet. She would never…"

"I hope so, I'm not sure. What I know is that Colleen's mother, who was a pureblood as well, is that she left her husband when he started to go about arranging a pureblood marriage for Colleen, she was eight. Her mother ran away because she didn't want her daughter to become a part of the pureblood mania like she had been. Her mother changed her name and that of Colleen's back into her maidens name."

"What is her father's last name?"

"Mulciber." Harry whispered.

"No!" I gasped. "That can be true."

"It is, I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't sure."

"Is it the same Mulciber that was at the ministry?"

"No, Colleen's father is a younger brother. They say he wasn't an active Death Eaters but he supported the initial idea."

"That's so terrible. Poor Colleen." I whispered. I felt sorry for her, I couldn't imagine how hard it would be growing up in a house like that. If Harry was right about it being like the Black's it would have been a hard home.

"Do you think Colleen has the same ideas as her father?" I asked Harry after a while.

"No, I honestly don't think so. She seems really nice, to you and others as well, even Hermione, and what I also considered is that she isn't in Slytherin, so her heart is in the right place."

"Than what are you worried about when it comes to her?"

"Her uncle hasn't been caught yet, I don't know how far she still feels tied to her fathers side of the family but if Mulciber the Death Eater can come close to her… he's the expert in the Imperius curse, if he can get close enough he could use her to do harm to others and you."

I saw the reason behind his worry, I honestly did but I hoped it was a bit too far fetched. I hoped that when Colleen's mother walk out of her husband that it was the end of all things Death Eater related for her.

"Is there something we could do to be sure?" I asked.

Harry shook his head, "No, love. Just be careful if you notice her acting strange, especially after Christmas when she has been with her family."

I nodded and kissed him softly.

I felt bad for Colleen and the fact that I realized how little I knew about her made me realize how little I knew about all my teammates, it bugged me. Maybe having a team drink next weekend in Hogsmeade would be good, just to chat, to team build and have fun.

I was thinking out if I had to plan something or just invite the team when Harry yawned widely.

"Tired?" I asked.

"Yes." He nodded.

I glanced down at my watch, a muggle watch Hermione had gotten me a few years back, it was just before dinner time.

"We could get dressed, get some dinner and get you to bed." I sighed. I didn't really wanted to leave the room of requirement, it was nice and quiet but Harry looked really tired and I knew it was selfish for me to keep him here. Lucky for me Harry came up with a better idea.

"Or, I could call Kreacher, ask him to get us dinner and stay in this bed."

"I like your idea."

Within a few minutes Kreacher had come up with delicious food, he was happy to serve Harry and was telling us about the on goings in the kitchens as he place the food in front of us.

The room was lit with a bit more light as we ate, between every bite we looked at each other, it was like when we just started, the sly glances and the hungry looks in between. I took my time to really look at him. Now that he was having enough food to eat again, he started to fill out his clothes a bit better, he became more masculine. The hard lines in his face became softer but there were still very dark circles below his eyes. Just like they had been after he had turned.

"You look like you haven't slept in a long time." I murmured as I took a bite.

"I haven't" Harry said darkly.

I placed my plate back on the small table and looked at him.

"Nightmares again?" I asked.

He looked up, a flitter of surprise ran over his face, his eyes told more than enough but he nodded anyway.

"For how long?" I asked as I placed my hand on his.

"Since we left the Burrow." He whispered.

"Good lord! Harry, why haven't you told me before."

"There's nothing you can do about it. I've tried almost every thing, the only thing there is left is having somebody brew me a potion."

I looked at him, he looked very miserable about his own conclusion but he was wrong there was something we could do about it.

"Harry, there is something else."

"Like what?"

"We could sleep here every night." I whispered.

"What would change that? I haven't had more than a hour or two sleep ever since I came here. A change of scenery wouldn't change that."

I was a bit hurt by the fact that he didn't seem to remember, it was like he felt too miserable to want to remember.

"Don't you remember? What happened the last time you had those nightmares? What made them stop?" I whispered.

Harry looked at me, his mouth a bit open, his eyes moving from me to the bed and then around the room.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yes, of course I am serious, you git." I hit him playfully on his shoulder. "We could sleep here, enchant the door so nobody can get in."

A small smile spread across his lips, slowly the light in his eyes returned and he nodded.

"That is an idea." He breathed and yawned at the same time.

"Okay, now you should really get some sleep." I said as I got up and pulled him of the couch. I steered him towards the bed and pushed him on it.

"What about you?" He asked.

"I'm going to lay next to you and read some book for Transfiguration while you get a few hours sleep. After that I'll extinguish the candles and fall asleep as well."

True to my word I crawled in with Harry and held him until he fell asleep. Softly I called for Kreacher in the hope he would get us some fresh clothes and my book, I also asked him to tell Ron and Hermione not to worry and that we would see than at breakfast. I was happy to see that Kreacher took all my orders perfectly, the little elf had really changed.

I got quite a bit of reading finished before I dimmed the lights and pulled myself close to Harry. When I next opened my eyes the room was light and smelled like coffee.

"Good morning, love." Harry murmured. His green eyes were just few inches away from me, they were bright and twinkling again.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thanks to you." He whispered as he kissed me softly.

"Have you been awake long?" I yawned as I tried to wake up completely.

"Yes, a while now. I woke up just before six, but that meant I had slept almost twelve hours."

"Did you stay in bed all that time?" I asked as I pushed myself up a bit.

"Yes, I asked Kreacher to bring us some coffee and I did some thinking."

"About what?"

"About what we discussed last night." Harry smiled a bit unconvincingly. "I'm going to try to be here more, but I don't know if I can be here all the time. Hunting down the Death Eaters and Greyback just seem too important."

"I know, Harry. You are right, finding Greyback and the Death Eaters is important but staying alive is more important. Just try, and try to stay in one piece."

"You won't get angry if I'm leaving this afternoon?"

"No, it's your training day, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Than go, I'll wait for you here tonight, we will sleep here at least a few night per week."

"You'll be really waiting here?"

"Yes, I can do a lot of studying here, it's nice and quiet, I'll ask Ron and Hermione along, we'll be waiting here."

"So you are not going to be angry if I'm staying at the ministry until after dinner today.?"

"No Harry, it's Monday, we have a few classes than you go to Arn and come back later, tomorrow you don't have a training day so you are going to help me with my Transfiguration wand work and the day after that we'll see. Just try to be here a few evenings per week for dinner. It's called balancing."

Slowly a real smile started to spread across his face.

"Did I told you that I love you." He suddenly said. He pulled me closer and started to kiss me all over. My lips, my cheeks, my neck, down to my collarbone.

"Yes, but I don't mind you repeating it." I breathed.

"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you." He murmured with every kiss he placed on very sensitive spots. I giggled but already started to loose control.

"Harry!" I moaned.

"Yes?"

"If you want to make it to class today we better get up, get showered and get some breakfast."

Harry groaned and fell back.

"Next weekend we are going to stay in bed for the whole day." Harry groaned.

"How I wish, it's Hogsmeade weekend next week, I'm sure you want to go and have a drink."

"No, not really."

I laughed and got up, on the table next to the bed Kreacher had placed some fresh school robes.

"Here, get dressed, Ron and Hermione will be worried."


	33. Obliviate, Please

**_I know this one took a bit long but I hope you all will like it... A small insight in how Ron and Hermione are coping with school and how the Death Eaters and their believes are still going around..._**

**_Please Review..._**

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**_33. Obliviate, Please  
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_2__nd__ of December 1998_

"Dragons are very beautiful, you know?"

"According to my brother, he's fascinated with them."

Luna and I were sitting in a large window still close to the library. The last rays of the winter sun were shining through, although it was to cold to go outside, snow was being forecasted, from this place the sun felt really nice. Luna was reading a book about dragons while I was struggling with my Transfiguration essay that was resting on my knees.

"Your brother knows a lot about dragons, doesn't he?" Luna asked.

"I guess, he has been working with them for a long time already."

"It sounds wonderful to spend your whole day working with animals, taking care of them and study them from so close."

"Charlie loves it, you should hear him and Hagrid discus dragons, they will talk non-stop."

Luna's eyes flashed when I said Charlie's name, it was a small hint that I was on the right track. I was still hoping and planning for a Christmas romance, if Luna would agree to come, I still had to ask her. I scribbled down the next line in my essay before I glanced over at Luna. She was staring dreamingly ahead. This wasn't abnormal for Luna, I always wondered how many hours she spend daydreaming but this time a lazy smile hang around her lips.

"Luna?"

"Yes."

"Have you…" I started. "Have you made any plans for Christmas?"

"Oh…" Her mouth popped open and her eyes turned sad. "No, not really. I'm going to visit dad on Christmas day but besides that I'm thinking about staying here and helping Hargid."

"Why don't you come with us? We are having a party on Christmas eve at Harry's place, we were planning on inviting you anyway if you didn't have plans."

"I don't want to cause trouble." Luna immediately shook her head.

"Luna! You will never cause trouble, you know that you are welcome with us."

"But it's with your family, you guys have lost a member of that, I don't want to invade."

"Luna, it's a big Christmas party, my family will be there but Andromeada and Teddy as well, Angelina, Audrey and Harry is thinking about inviting Neville and his grandmother. I'll go with you to St. Mungo's on Christmas day."

"It's very nice of you to invite me."

"That's what friends do. I don't want you to be alone on Christmas eve." I pressed.

"I'll think about it. Where are you having this party anyway?"

"At the Summer house, it's a beautiful mansion Harry inherited from his parents. It's got beautiful garden and the bedrooms are very comfortable, you can stay."

"Where is it?"

"Just at the border of the forest of Dean. The back of the house is almost hidden in the trees."

"Sounds like a beautiful place." Luna whispered.

"It really is and wait till you see what the house elves do for Christmas, I'm sure between Drooble and Kreacher they'll make it into a winter wonderland."

Luna sighed and looked back into her book, I decided to let her think about it. Silently I prayed she would come or else all my planning and scheming would be for nothing.

Suddenly a loud banging sound came from just around the corridor it was followed by a cruel laughter. I jumped up quickly and Luna followed with an annoyed sigh.

"What?" I whispered.

"Slytherins." She grumbled. She quickly picked up her bag and pulled out her wand. "they have been restless for the last few weeks, randomly causing trouble."

I followed only two steps behind her, as we rounded the corner we both skidded to a halt. In front of us were two third years from Slytherin, their wands pointed at a first year from Hufflepuf whom I recognized as Jeany Nals, a muggle-born. The little Hufflepuf was bend over like she was in pain.

"You see mudblood, that's what you get from not moving aside." The tall Slytherin sneered.

"You do not own the castle." Jeany spat. I felt a surge of pride for the little girl, she was brave.

The tall Slytherin's smile widened and he moved his wand muttering some words that made the girl gasp and bend over in pain again.

"Enough!" Luna yelled. She actually looked angry, I couldn't remember the last time I had seen Luna look angry.

The two Slytherin's turned, first they looked shocked but when they saw it wasn't a teacher they sneered again.

"Well, Juren, the headgirl showed up."

"And the bloodtraitor girl." the tall one, apparently named Juren, chuckled.

I hurried over to the young girl that was leaning against the wall gasping for air. Luna however walked up to the two Slytherin's with a relaxed smile on her face.

"The word mudblood is forbidden to use in these corridor, for that both of you will receive two nights of detention with the head of your house. Cursing a student is forbidden in these corridors for that you could be expelled." Luna's words sounded ghost like, eerie and if I didn't knew her even scary. Both boys just stood there, sneering at her.

"The head mistress will decided if that is the appropriate punishment." Luna continued.

The tall boys raised his wand at Luna but she didn't flinch, she continued to looked at the boys like she was looking at Ron or Harry and telling them about Wackspurts, the only difference was the tone of her voice.

"You'll come with me to the head's office now."

"And why would you think we would follow you, loony." The tall boy sneered.

"Because I will make you."

Both boys laughed loudly before snapping shut and raised their wands.

"You boys seriously considering dueling against a seventh year, while you are still so young?" Luna asked with an uncharacteristic laugh.

I grabbed the girl and pulled her away, if the boys tried something Luna would explode, I had seen her explode one, during the final battle, she was a lethal opponent.

I hid the little girl behind me as I watched the Slytherins nod. Both boys started to move their wands but before they could even open their mouth to speak the incantation ropes wrapped around them effectively disarming them.

"Hey! Let us go!"

"No, we are going to professor McGonagall." Luna smiled as she brought down her wand, I hadn't even seen her using it.

"We can't! There ropes are wrapped around our legs." The tall boys sneered.

"Who said I was going to let you two walk." And with an other flick of her wand the boys were dangled in the air as if a rope was pulling them up by their ankles. The girl behind me chuckled as she watched Luna humiliating the boys.

The boys started to protest but Luna quickly silenced them with a silencing charm, it made them look even more eerie. Luna turned to us and smiled dreamingly.

"Are you alright?" she asked Jeany. For the first time I was able to see why McGonagall had selected Luna to be head girl when many had expected it to be me instead. Luna was sweet, caring and a good friend but when needed she could be fearless, ruthless and brave. She kept her heart and head together and did the right thing where as I would have lost it from my temper and cursed every Slytherin who harassed a muggle-born to oblivion.

"Let's go to professor McGonagall." Luna said cheerily. Jeany nodded reluctantly and I walked next to her to the heads office. Luna had a sort of spring in her step as she waved her wand for the bundles of cursing Slytherins to follow her, she looked happy and proud of herself.

I glanced down at Jeany, she was looking scared.

"You shouldn't be scared, professor McGonagall won't hurt you." I whispered.

"Oh, I'm not scared of her but of them." She said as she pointed to the Slytherins.

"Why?"

"They will want revenge if they are punished, they'll come for me again." Jeany whispered scared.

"Like I said you don't need to be scared. You stood up against them before we came around the corner, you were brave."

"I'm not brave enough, I'm not in Gryffindor." Jeany shook her head.

"Luna isn't in Gryffindor either but she's one of the braves people I know."

"She fought the war, didn't she?"

"Yes."

" You as well, you are Harry's girlfriend, right?"

"Yes. We both fought."

Jeany seem the be lost in thought for a few minutes as we walked through the corridors.

"Are you ever scared?" Jeany suddenly asked. I stopped in my tracks and looked down at her for a long time, she shyly looked away shuddering slightly as she saw the Slytherins. I knelt down next to her so that I could look her in her eyes.

"Yes, Jeany, sometimes I'm scared as well." I honestly told her.

"You fought the war, you battled them, how can you be scared of anything after that?" She whispered.

"I'm not afraid of dueling or battles anymore, you just have to go in and do your best, just like with school." I said and smiled softly at her. "What I'm afraid of is losing someone I love. There is nothing worse than watching those you love die."

"Not even being bullied or hexed by Slytherins?" she asked shyly.

"Not even that. The Slytherins are just afraid of losing their parents approval if they don't do it."

It was then that Jeany smiled at me, she seemed to understand what I was telling her. Never be afraid of a battle but of what you could lose in that battle. "Come, Luna is waiting for us."

Jeany nodded and together we walked on. Luna was waiting at the entrance of McGonagall's office for us, the Slytherins still floating eerily above her. When we reached her, Luna gave me a soft smile letting me know that she had heard our conversation.

"Jeany, whenever the Slytherins are bullying you again you can ask me or Ginny for help. They will be sorry for bullying anyone." Luna said very seriously. Jeany smiled and nodded. Luna turned to the Gargoyle and gave the password, slowly the Gargoyle moved aside and revealed the spiral steps, beside us Jeany gasped her eyes wide with awe just like I had done the first time I entered the headmaster's office.

When we reached the top Luna knocked and waited patiently.

"Ah, miss Lovegood, what brings you here?" McGonagall asked as she opened the door.

"These are two Slytherins who thought it to be necessary to jinx and bully Jeany Nals from Hufflepuf, professor."

"Oh, goodness. Come in." McGonagall's eyes quickly roamed over us and lingered on the small girl next to me. McGonagall conjured up some extra chairs and motions us to sit.

"Now, what happened miss Nals?" McGonagall asked when she sat down. Jeany glanced at me and Luna, we both gave her an encouraging nod.

"I was on my way to the library and accidentally bumped into one of them, I literally bumped into the tall one. The other pointed his wand at me and said the I should look out where I was walking, he called me a mudblood."

McGonagall glared at the two still floating boys.

"The tall one got up and hit me with a curse, I think. It hurt my stomach and I doubled over back on the floor. Than they wanted to move on but I was in the way, they jinxed me again and I tried to crawl up against the wall, told them that the castle wasn't theirs, that was when Luna and Ginny showed up."

McGonagall smiled at her sweetly.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, besides a cut on my arm from falling I'm okay."

I glanced at Jeany's arm and saw blood seeping out a bit, I cursed myself for not noticing before.

"You should go to the hospital wing and have madam Pomfrey heal that for you." McGonagall told her. Jeany didn't look to happy about it, her face fell and she glanced at us again.

"I can heal it for you." I offered. Ever since I found out about Harry's excursions with Arn I dived into healing spells and potions, Hermione and madam Pomfrey had helped me to get the practical part down. After only a month I was able to heal normal cuts and bruises, also minor magical inflicted wounds.

"Are you sure miss Weasley?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, I've been healing Harry for over a month now when he comes back from the ministry."

McGonagall looked at me for a second and nodded. I turned to Jeany, who was looking scared at me.

"This won't hurt." I promised her and took her arm. I drew my wand and pointed it at the wound, softly I muttered the incantation, three times I went over the cut before the skin sealed itself. "There." I said with a smile as I stepped back.

"Thanks." Jeany muttered.

"I'm impressed miss Weasley." McGonagall smiled at me before turning to Jeany again. "You may go miss Nals, I just have talk to miss Lovegood and miss Weasley for a second. Please return to your common room or the library, if you feel weird or sick please go to the hospital wing."

"I will, professor." Jeany nodded and got up, with a smile at us she left the office. When the door closed McGonagall pointed her wand at the two boys and lowered them back on the ground.

"Professor, I already gave them detention for using a banned word." Luna informed her.

"Very well, but we first have to see if they will be allowed to stay so that they can do that detention."

Both boys smartly kept their mouth shut as McGonagall glared at them. Over her glassed she watched the boys as they both were determined to stare holes in the floor. McGonagall eyes were blazing at them but her voice stayed steady.

"After what our world has been through for the last two years I would have thought that my students would learn to use their brains, especially those who have been here to witness it. This pure-blood madness has to be stopped and I'm starting here. I'm angry enough to expel you both…"

Both boys looked up in shock and opened their mouth to argue but McGonagall held up her hand.

"You will find that I'm not the one for discussions or arguments, so don't try." She snapped causing the boys to shut their mouth quickly.

"Now, as I was saying, cursing a first year, a small girl that doesn't know how to defend herself is sickening and for that alone I'm angry enough to expel the two of you, but I'm not going to do that. I know that this behavior is caused mainly by your parents and sending you home won't solve the problem. Therefore I have a better solution, this year we have started to give extra classes to muggle-borns, to make their integration into the wizarding world go more easily, these lessons are a sort of meetings in which they can ask anything and we explain. I want the two of you attend these classes and help out with the answers, for the rest of the year."

"What?" the tall one asked.

"You heard me, on every Wednesday evening you two are going to help professors Slughorn, Flitwick and myself with problems muggle-borns are having with entering our world."

"The whole year?"

"Yes, the whole year, besides that you are still doing the detention miss Lovegood gave you. You should be happy to still being able to walk around the castle."

The Slytherins nodded and faced the floor again.

"You two may leave." McGonagall ordered them. "I'll see you next Wednesday."

Both nodded again and left the round office as fast as they could. I was still staring at the door when McGonagall spoke again.

"I'm surprised to see that they were still in one piece, miss Weasley." McGonagall said with a smile.

"That's thanks to Luna, my temper would indeed have been in the way but Luna took on the two boys while I took Jeany out of the way."

"Hmm, it seems like you are becoming a wise woman and I see that you are practicing your healing skills."

"Yes, since I found out about Harry's…uhm, excursions, I decided that I wanted to be able to heal his wounds when he gets back, it would be useful, especially after school when he doesn't have madam Pomfrey to patch him up."

McGonagall chuckled and her eyes twinkled with an old wisdom I had seen before in Professor Dumbledore. After a soft smile towards me she turned to Luna.

"Miss Lovegood, I'm very pleased that you are handling your head girl duties very well."

"Thank you, Professor."

McGonagall smiled and dismissed us soon afterwards. I followed Luna down the steps and to the great hall for dinner.

"Is Harry not coming back for dinner?" Luna asked as I sat down with her at the Ravenclaw table.

"I don't think so, he was going to be at a hearing but I think he and Arn are wolf hunting again or he would have been back already." I grumbled. If Harry had stayed at the ministry he would have been back by now.

"Harry will be alright. He is after all the most powerful wizard of this time." Luna smiled encouragingly.

"I know, I just wish he wouldn't feel the need for risking his life every day."

"It's not every day anymore." Luna pointed out.

"I know." I sighed as I pushed the food around my plate.

Harry had told Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna about the hunt for Greyback and the Death Eaters after Halloween as well. It was much easier for me now they knew as well, we could talk freely about it and Hermione was a great support when I was worried. For Harry it meant that he could discus these things with the people he trusted most, talk about ideas and tactic. Sometimes it felt like the DA was back in action again, especially when Neville offered to help with the hunt. Harry of course refused claiming that Neville's teachers training was more important.

"I have seen him a lot this month, it seems like he is dealing very well with everything and still makes time for you." Luna pointed out. I nodded, I knew Luna was right, after the Halloween weekend Harry had made an honest effort to not run to the ministry every day. He had been away often but he was trying to spend equal amount of time with me and his friends.

The discovery of the still intact Room of Requirement helped a lot. Whenever I knew Harry was out wolf hunting I would wait for him there, to talk, to heal his wounds and just to spend time together. When Harry came back with wounds that were too big or to dark for me to deal with I went with him to madam Pomfrey and she would explain to me how to heal them. It had been a great relieve when the wounds slowly got less. It didn't necessarily meant that Harry didn't go hunting as much, only that he was becoming more skillful and that the auror office was becoming more organized, thanks to Arn and Kingsley.

Sometimes Ron, Hermione, Neville or Luna joined us in the Room of Requirement and joined in on the discussions but we made sure that we had time together and I made sure that at least once or twice a week Harry did get proper sleep.

I really have to admit that since Halloween life in the castle was becoming more and more of what I had hoped my seventh year would be. Being Quidditch captain was amazing but took up a lot of time, the studying went a lot better now that Harry helped me with problems I had. Before it was Hermione who helped me but lately whenever I needed her she was nowhere to be found, neither was Ron for that matter. Still, Harry helped me a lot, specially with Transfiguration, it just wasn't my subject.

Having Harry around more made me a lot happier, some days he only left for an hour, last week he actually stayed with me for three days straight, catching up on homework and on us-time. It had been hard on him to do that and I knew he had been itching to ask McGonagall to use the floo to just ask Kingsley what was up but he held his ground and I was really proud of him.

Colleen pulled me out of my thoughts as she sat down next to me, she looked angry, or maybe even upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"My dad, that's wrong." She grumbled as she angrily dumped a spoon of mashed potatoes on her plate. I immediately stiffened as I remembered Harry talking about her father. I hadn't told Colleen that I knew that her uncle was a death eater but I paid more attention to her. Not only to see if she would be lured into the dark arts as well or being a victim to it but also because I knew this war had been hard on her as well and with a family like that it would make it even harder, maybe she just needed somebody to talk too.

"What about your father?" I asked working hard to keep the worry out of my voice.

"He wants me to come and see him for Christmas, he has been writing every day since two weeks ago."

I wondered for a second if she even knew that her father was arrested shortly before Halloween. Stupidly I didn't knew if he was released again or not.

"You don't live with your father anymore, do you?" Luna asked.

"No, that's why I'm so bloody annoyed with him, I don't want to see him, I wrote him about a thousand times to say no."

"What about your mother, what does she say?" I asked.

"She won't get in a mile radius of him but she says it is my choice."

"Has your mom has anything planned for Christmas?"

"Yeah, we are planning on visiting her sister, she lives in Ireland."

"That sounds nice." Luna said.

Colleen nodded.

"So, you won't go to your father?" I asked.

"No, of course not."

"Why do you hate your father so much?" Luna asked.

Colleen looked at her with wide eyes, she was shocked.

"Do you not know?" Colleen gasped.

Both Luna and I shook our head, I had a fairly good idea why but I wasn't about to say it, I really didn't want to be the one to tell her that her father had been arrested and probably released again because apparently he was able to throw a Christmas party, so I decided to keep my mouth shut and played dumb.

"I thought everybody knew. My father is from an ancient pure-blood line, when I was eight or maybe a bit older he wanted to arrange a marriage for me so that I was sure to marry a pure-blood as well. I didn't knew then but when I found out I accidentally on-purpose hit him with a jinx, he hit me with his hand in my face, mom got really angry with him and took me away. I never saw him again."

"I'm sorry." Luna muttered.

"Don't be, I'm better off without him." Colleen said with a happy smile.

For the remainder of our dinner I felt uneasy, like I was missing something obvious but I couldn't put my finger on it. I was sure that it had to do something with Colleen and the invitations she got but I just couldn't form the proper thought around it. I decided to talk to Harry about it later.

When I finished my dinner I got up to go back to the common room and study or take a long bath in the prefects bathroom before going to the Room of Requirement.

"Is it okay if I come to visit you two tonight?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, Ron and Hermione will be there today as well."

"What time?"

"Dunno." I shrugged. "I'm going to take a long bath and grab some books before I go wait for Harry to return."

"I'll stop by when I'm ready with my essay." Luna smiled.

I nodded and left the Great Hall quickly, somehow the uneasiness never really left me. I was deeply submerged in my thoughts that I noticed a strange sound too late. As I rounded the corner of a deserted corridor I skidded to a halt. At the end, in the dark corner were two people kissing. It wasn't completely out of the ordinary to see students snogging and making out all around the castle but what made me stop in a state of shock was that I recognized that hair and frame anywhere.

I squeezed my eyes to make absolutely sure that it was indeed Neville. I didn't recognized the girl immediately but my guess was that it was Susan Bones. I almost giggled loudly at the sight of them. Honestly I was completely happy for Neville that he had found somebody, a nice and sweet girl, but it just didn't made the connection in my mind. The shy and stumbling Neville, was now snogging a girl!

I turned around and walked back, shaking my head to clear myself of that image. I loved Neville like a brother but I sure didn't want to see any of my brothers snogging in a dark corner…little did I knew…

I took the long route back to the common room and grabbed some fresh clothes. When I walked back into the common room I looked around for Ron or Hermione to tell them what I had seen. Yes, even I like a good gossip but Hermione and Ron weren't there. I wondered where they were as I remembered that they weren't at dinner either.

Right there and than I should have turned around and just take a shower, I still blame myself for not listening to my gut instinct. I raced down to the prefects bathroom, I wanted a long warm bath and I wanted to be ready before Harry returned, which meant that I had little less than a hour left. I didn't pay much notice to my surrounding and quickly whispered the password to get in.

I opened the door quickly and stepped in as I thought about Harry's return, hoping and praying that it wouldn't be too bad this time. Completely lost in my own mind I didn't notice the sounds coming from the corner of the massive bathroom, or else I would have turned around faster than someone can apparate.

Suddenly the sounds reached my brain. Somebody was giggling, it was followed by a heavy moan. I glanced up to see where the sound was coming from, an automatic reaction. I sure do wish now that I hadn't because at the far end of the room in a secluded corner of the bath were Ron and Hermione, having wet sex.

I snapped my eyes shut and turned around, opened the door and ran out but I wasn't fast enough and I heard something I had never wanted to hear somebody say about my brother.

"God, Ron! God, how you fill me! Harder!" I heard Hermione scream. It made me almost scream, I ran and ran until I reached the Room of Requirement, pacing in front of it three times, focusing with all my might on a bathroom and a wizarding wireless with some damn good loud music, and maybe a pensive with working instructions.

When I opened the door I saw that my wishes had been granted, inside was a brilliant bathroom, with a tub with steaming hot water and a wireless playing my favorite music only the pensive was missing. I sighed in relieve and closed the door behind me.

A good twenty minutes later I had been able to clear my head a bit of that horrific imagine and focus on my home work. I had gone out the room and paced in front of it again to change it in a normal sitting room where I was able to study and do some wand work to practice for Charms and Transfiguration.

I wasn't really able to focus on my home-work, it was getting later and later in the evening and Harry still wasn't back, I started to worry a bit and besides that I was dreading the moment Ron and Hermione would join me. I honestly didn't think I could ever look them in the eye again.

"You don't have to look so scared." A soft voice came from the door. I relaxed immediately and got up, my eyes roaming over Harry's body searching for wounds.

"It's not that bad, just a few small cuts." He said as he walked towards me.

I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my lips against his. Without a hesitation Harry returned the kiss passionately, his tongue begging for entrance, which I happily granted him. Too soon he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine.

"I love you, Ginny." He whispered.

"I love you too." I sighed, happy to be back in his arms. "Why are you so late?"

"It isn't that late, it's only just past eight." Harry pointed out. For my feeling it had been much later if he told me it was almost midnight I would have believed it as well.

"I thought it was much later."

"You look tired, or worn out? Did something happen?" Harry asked as he pulled my to the sofa in front of the fire. As he sat down he pulled me on his lap and wrapped his arms around me.

"It has been a…challenging day." I admitted.

"Do you want to tell me?"

"What about you, don't I have to check your wounds first? You are still bleeding." I glanced up his face to see a minor cut just below his messy hair.

"No, it's only that one and it isn't even magical, I bumped my head against the door to Kingsley's office when I left. I was talking and Arn opened the door at the exact moment I wanted to."

"That must have been quite a sight, Harry Potter wounded by a door." I chuckled.

"It was, immediately ten witches and wizards were around me checking if I was alright, Kingsley and Arn were laughing at me, it was humiliating but you haven't told me why you look so tired. What happened today?"

"I'll start with the worst." I said as I shuddered. "I walked in on Ron and Hermione."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused.

"Harry, I walked in on them having sex!"

"Oh…that must have been…"

"Shocking? It was beyond shocking it was disgusting!"

Harry laughed loudly.

"Poor girl, do you need me to obliviate it from your mind?"

"I have been thinking about it." I admitted. "I'm very worried about my reaction when I see them again."

"I can imagine, where are they any way?"

"Don't know, don't care. Probably still in the prefects bathroom."

"The prefects bathroom?" Harry asked .

"Yes, that's were I saw them?"

"In the prefects bathroom?"

"Yes! Harry, in the prefects bathroom."

Harry laughed even louder, he almost dropped me on the floor.

"Harry, this is not funny."

"Yes, it is. Little miss 'I-always-obey-the-rules' is being naughty in the prefects bathroom. That is as funny as it is wrong." Harry laughed. I had to admit that I saw the humor in that as well but I was the victim of it all, or at least it felt like that.

"What else have you been through today?" Harry asked when he was able to stop laughing.

"Was that not enough?"

"Yes, yes, it was but you said that you started with the worst so I take that more has happened."

"Oh, yes." I sighed. "I walked in on Neville as well, he was kissing Susan Bones in a dark corner up to the common room."

"Neville kissing Susan?"

"Yep."

"Wow." Harry breathed in awe.

"That's an understatement, our Neville is growing up." I giggled.

Harry nodded and smiled to the blazing flames, he looked either pleased or happy. I guess that he was happy for Neville, for Harry, Neville was like a brother as well and he wanted to see his brother-in-arms happy after so much drama.

"Colleen was an other headache today." I said after a while.

"What happened?"

"She came to sit with me and Luna at dinner. She was frustrated."

"With what?"

"With her father."

Harry sat up immediately now listening more as the Death Eater hunter he was than as my boyfriend but it didn't bother me, I knew he was just worried.

"Her father apparently keeps inviting her over for Christmas. She says she didn't want to have to do anything with him, let alone celebrate Christmas but she got annoyed when her dad didn't stop asking after she wrote back a reply."

Harry looked in the fire, his eyebrows pulled together and his eyes blazing. He sat like that for a long time, sometimes he was muttering something but I couldn't understand it.

"What are you thinking?" I asked when it didn't seemed likely that he would talk any time soon. He suddenly looked up at me, like he just remember I was sitting on his lap.

"Colleen's father didn't write those invitation." Harry muttered.

"What? Why not?"

"Because he is still locked up at the ministry, prisoners aren't allowed to contact family, only with permission from the minister. I'm sure Kingsley would never give Colleen's father permission to write her, he knows their story. Kingsley also knows the danger Colleen could be in when she is going to see her father's family."

"Do you think she is lying?"

"Do you?"

He threw the question back at me, I hated it but I knew Colleen better than him so it was a logical question. I thought about the conversation we had during dinner, I couldn't find one clue of dishonesty.

"No, I don't think she is lying. I remember wondering if she even knew her father had been arrested. I invited her to stay with us but she says she is going with her mother to visit her mother's family. If she wanted to harm us she would have taken the offer."

"Maybe but then who is writing her?"

"Her uncle." I suggested.

Harry nodded but didn't say anything. I could almost hear his brain working, I half expected him to run out and go to Kingsley but after a good ten minutes he started to smile and his eyes were sparkling again.

"I'll try to figure it out, don't worry too much about it." Harry said. There was something in his eyes that made me a bit worried, it was that adventure fire again, the one he had in his eyes when he was busy with something he just had to figure out.

Suddenly the door opened and Ron and Hermione walked in. I think I blushed more red than a tomato and I pressed my face against Harry's chest.

"Hey, you are back already?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, we weren't very lucky and decided to give it up very soon."

"No new leads?" Ron asked.

"There are but all turn out to be false, already gone or traps."

They stayed silent for a few seconds probably thinking about Harry's words, I still was too much of a coward to look at them, afraid that the images might return.

"What's wrong with you, Ginny." Ron asked when I didn't look at them. Harry, being the ever helpful boyfriend broke out in a roar of laughter, making me blush even more.

"What?" Hermione asked. I just shook my head and kept my nose pressed in Harry's chest. I felt Harry shake with laughter.

"Ginny, saw something today that she wished she didn't." Harry chuckled.

"Oh, was happened that was so bad." Hermione asked compassionately.

"Something to do with the prefects bathroom." Harry laughed.

"Harry!" I yelled.

"What?"

"Don't remember me, please."

Harry's hint had reached its target. As I dared a glance at my brother I saw his face bright red and his mouth hanging open. I looked up further to see Hermione in the same state only her color was white.

"You saw us." Hermione whispered.

"Yes!" I wailed.

Harry laughed even louder, I guess it was a good thing that he thought it was funny and that he was laughing so freely but for me the humor just wasn't there.

"Next time magically lock the door or find a less public place." I hissed.

Both Ron and Hermione didn't react but looked thoroughly ashamed. I wondered what they thought but than quickly decided that I had seen enough horror for a day, maybe even my life.

"Hermione I thought you were always about obeying the rules, I'm pretty sure that there is a rule about shagging in public." Harry chuckled. Hermione blushed even redder but recovered pretty soon.

"Being friends with you, a marauder's son, for seven years did teach me a thing or two about the rules and how to break them." Hermione snapped. "I haven't heard about you living up to the Potter name."

"Who says I haven't, just because I'm not shagging my girl in public doesn't mean we don't break the rules." Harry challenged.

I glared up at Harry, I so didn't want to have this discussion in front of my brother, who was almost exploding. Sadly Harry didn't notice my glare, he was smiling wickedly at Hermione and she was challenging him back.

"Okay, that's enough discussions about our private time, please Hermione, you are smart enough, next time lock yourself in properly?" I pulled them out of their battle.

Hermione looked at me, she was looking embarrassed again and nodded.

"I'm sorry, I guess I forgot." She muttered. Where I heard Ron mutter an apology as well but I couldn't be sure, it might have been just a strange sound. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds when Hermione, thankfully, broke it.

"What were you two discussing when we got in?" She asked as she sat down in the rug in front of the fire.

Harry and I looked at each other for a second. We had decided not to tell anybody about Colleen's family as long as it wasn't necessary. Even thought it felt like things were changing a bit, Colleen's safety was changing, I wasn't sure if telling Ron and Hermione was the smartest idea at the moment. Death Eaters were still a very touchy subject for Ron and he might do something rash towards Colleen.

I saw Harry shook his head ever so slightly but I knew it meant we were on the same page.

"Ginny, was telling me about her very trying day." Harry told Ron and Hermione.

It made Hermione and Ron blush again but Hermione pushed it away quickly.

"Besides…uhm…that, did anything else happen?" she asked.

"Yes, a lot actually, I didn't even get to tell Harry all of it."

"What? There is even more?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes, my little run ins with cute couples was almost as shocking, maybe even more shocking than the run in Luna and I had this afternoon with a not so cute couple."

"What happened?" Ron asked.

"Luna and I found two Slytherins attacking a Hufflepuf first-year, a muggle-born girl."

"What?" Harry and Hermione gasped.

"Luna and I sat in the corridor to the library, in one of the huge windows enjoying the sun and discussing Dragons when Luna and I heard something, we went to take a look and found that two Slytherin boys were harassing a Jeany Nals from Hufflepuf."

"I take it those boys are now in the hospital wing?" Ron asked with a suggestive look at me.

"No, Luna is head girl she took care of the boys while I comforted Jeany."

"You didn't attack?" Harry asked surprised.

"Why is everybody assuming I attacked the boys?" I sighed loudly.

"Well, because you are too temperamental for your own good, you curse first and than ask questions." Hermione shrugged.

I sighed and looked down at my hands, one was always close to my wand ready to attack.

"Yeah, I guess you are right, but I let Luna handle it, she was brilliant. That poor little girl looked so small I couldn't help but feeling sorry for her."

"What did Luna do?" Harry asked.

"Being Luna, she absolutely terrified me. She just walked up to the boys looking more angry than I have ever seen her, she was telling them about how the use of some words were forbidden and that they would receive detention and than she said that they could be expelled for cursing Jeany. Her voice sounded so eerie, a bit too child like for such a dangerous creature. When she mentioned McGonagall the taller of the two boys raised his wand at her, taking dueling position."

"Is Luna alright?" Harry asked."

"Perfectly fine, she did some fast spell work and the two boys were wrapped in ropes and floating in the air. McGonagall let them off easily, though."

"She didn't expel them?" Harry asked.

"No, she gave them a more fitting punishment. She said something about how sending them home wouldn't be useful and now they have to help out with the muggle students counseling group."

"That is indeed more fitting." Hermione agreed.

"I still can't believe that there are people willingly to attack muggle-borns in public." Ron said as he shook his head.

"They just do what they have been taught." I shrugged. "It will be a long time before it will really stop if it ever stops."

"Yes, I honestly don't think it will ever really stop." Harry sighed.

We sat in a sad silence for a long time. It was a strange sadness, knowing that we had won the battle for freedom and peace but that the true feelings of hate that had at the root of this war would never be erased. We all knew that the only thing we could do about is was to fight it, to keep fighting for our believes and a peaceful world.

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_**don't know if any one is interested but I'm also working on a story about Sirius... it's called Sirius Black, a Marauders story...it follows Sirius through out his life from the age of 11...check it out if you like at my account...**_


	34. Christmas preparations

_**Okay, short chapter in between...I wanted to write the whole Christmas party in this Chapter but Ron came up with a surprise and made it very long, so I decided to have a small chapter first and have a long Christmas Bliss Chapter after this one...**_

_**Remember to review, I need them as a motivation to write fast and make the story good**_

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**34. Christmas preparations**

"Ginny!" I heard Luna's voice call. I turned around to see her running towards me.

"Ginny. Wait up." She breathed as she skidded to a halt next to me.

"What's up?"

"About Christmas."

"What is it?"

"Are you really willing to come with me to St. Mungo's to visit my dad?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay, than I'll come over on Christmas eve but you really have to come with me."

"That would be wonderful and of course I go with you, I promised I would."

Luna nodded at me, she looked excited and scared as once.

"What is really going on, Luna." I asked.

She took a deep breath and sighed, her normally happy face turned sad.

"I just got a letter from dad's healer. Dad is doing really well but they are suggestion to send him to a warmer country so that he can recover more quickly, they say he needs more sunlight. It would mean that I won't see him for a whole year. I'm afraid of saying goodbye alone."

"It won't be really goodbye, Luna." I pointed out.

"I know but it's the first time he'll be so far away from me, it feels like a heavy goodbye."

"I'll come with you, honestly but promise me that you try not to think about it during the dinner and the after party. Promise me you'll try and have fun."

"I'll try." Luna nodded. "Who else is coming to that dinner?"

"Well, the four of us of course, Neville and his grandmother, Andromeda and Teddy, mom, dad, Bill, Fleur, Percy, Audrey, George and Charlie. We invited Angelina as well but she couldn't come."

Luna looked up at Charlie's name, a soft smile was spreading over her face.

"That sounds like a nice party." She said dreamily.

"It will be, I'll tell Harry to count you in."

I waved goodbye to Luna and ran up to the Gryffindor common room. It was the last day of school before the holidays and tomorrow we would be leaving for the Burrow and the Summer house. Harry was going directly to the Summer house and I would go to the Burrow for a few days first, mom's orders. Although I didn't look forward to it a little time with mom and dad wouldn't hurt.

I still had to get packed but decided to inform Harry to tell Drooble to get a room ready for Luna first.

I flew through the portrait hole and looked around for the messy black hair. I found him with Ron and Hermione in the far corner of the common room, they too were discussing Christmas.

"Do you all your shopping done yet?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Yes, or at least Trinkle is getting the gifts for me."

"It must be so handy to have a house-elf doing everything for you." Ron sighed.

"Well, she can't do everything, I still have to get some paper work done myself." Harry whispered.

"What kind of gift do you need paper work done for?" Ron asked surprised.

"Big gifts." Harry shrugged.

I chuckled and sat down next to him.

"Hey you." I whispered. Harry pulled me to him and kissed me softly.

"Hey." He whispered. "Going by the look on your face you have some good news."

"Yeah, I have. Luna is coming over for Christmas as well."

"That's indeed good news." Harry smiled.

"I hope I'm right, though."

"Right about what?" Hermione asked.

"About Luna being in love with Charlie. I even suspect them from writing to each other regularly, I saw letters in Luna's books with a handwriting that looks a lot like Charlie's."

Hermione looked at me like I was crazy for a long time.

"How did you come to that idea?" she asked.

"When I was in the hospital wing at the beginning of the year. Charlie showed up with mom and dad, Luna was already with me, she and Charlie talked the whole visit through. Every time I'm with Luna she starts talking about Dragons and every time I mention Charlie her eyes lit up."

"That doesn't have to mean anything." Hermione argued.

"I know but I just have a feeling."

Hermione didn't argue again but she didn't look very convinced. I didn't care much, my feelings about other couples had always been on the mark. I hoped I would be right again, Charlie had been alone for a very long time and Luna needed someone to love and to take care of her.

"I have to go and get my stuff and get my stuff packed."

"You haven't done it yet?" Harry asked.

"Nah, I'll always pack last." I shrugged.

"I'll help you." Hermione offered.

"I don't really need help but you are welcome as company."

Hermione quickly kissed Ron and came up with me to our dormitories. Her bag for the Christmas holidays was already standing beside her bed.

"Is that all you are taking?" I asked.

"No of course not." She chuckled. "it looks small but inside it holds my whole winter wardrobe and all the Christmas gifts I bought."

I nodded, it was stupid of me to forget Hermione was brilliant with charms.

"Here, I'll do your bag as well." Hermione offered as she took the bag from my hands. I smiled thankfully at her and watched as she tapped the bag a few times with her wand. When she handed it back to me I looked inside to see an almost endless depth.

"Your only trouble will be that you can't find small things in it. You'll have to use a summoning charm to retrieve it."

"Thank you very much. This is very useful, you'll have to learn it to me one day."

Hermione sat on her bed for a while, just watching me pack my stuff in silence. I could tell by the look on her face that something was bothering her but I decided against asking, she came with me for a reason, soon enough I would hear what was bothering her.

After I went to retrieve my Quidditch trainingsrobes Hermione looked up.

"Ginny?"

"Yeah."

"Can I ask you something?" she sounded seriously so I looked up at her and smiled.

"Of course, what is it?"

She opened her mouth but nothing came out, a small blush spread across her face. A few times she opened and closed her mouth before asking.

"Do you know what Harry meant with only big presents need paper work?"

I could see that she was chickening out of her original question but I decided to answer her anyway.

"Yes."

"Oh, he isn't going to do something crazy, is he?"

"Hermione, you know Harry for seven and a half years now, you should know that if Harry gets the change to give something crazy he will."

"Do you know what the big present is? And for who?"

"Yes, he has discussed it with me but I'm not going to tell you. Just let it be a surprise for the one who receives it and enjoy the shock of that person."

I couldn't tell her that it was our present for her, it would make her more anxious and nosy.

"But that wasn't the real question you wanted to ask, was it?" I pressed.

Hermione blushed again and looked away. It was clear she was feeling really uncomfortable. I moved to sit down next to her and wrapped my arm around her. "Whatever it is just ask it." I told her.

"I feel a bit embarrassed about it." She whispered.

"I'm your girly friend, your future sister-in-law, you shouldn't feel embarrassed with me."

Hermione closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath.

"." She rushed out, I couldn't get a single word from it.

"Come again?" I asked.

"Oh, gosh, Ginny, this is so embarrassing."

"Oh please Hermione, embarrassing is me walking in on you two having sex, embarrassing is Neville asking you if you could give him tips on how to please a girl, whatever is on your mind can't be that embarrassing."

She looked at me for a second, probably more embarrassed as I brought up the scene from the prefects bathroom again but she couldn't blush brighter than she already was.

"Okay," she sighed, "Ron asked me what I wanted for Christmas but I had no idea, so I told him to pick something out himself. I think he asked George for advise because yesterday he came to me with a magazine and told me to pick out whatever I liked or thought could be useful and order it for us for Christmas."

"What kind of magazine?"

Hermione got up and walked over to her bag, for a second she rumbled through it before she pulled out what looked like a witch weekly magazine, it had the same pink and red exterior but the text above it was different.

When Hermione sat back down next to me she handed me the magazine.

"Have a look." She said.

I turned the page and was met by a picture of a young witch showing off a very scanty lingerie set. The whole page was covered with pictures of scanty clad witches, the next page also held a few wizard who were wearing next to nothing.

"Porn?" I asked.

Hermione shook her head and took the magazine back from me, she flipped through some pages and handed it back to me, pointing at a picture. It was a picture of a very large and fake looking penis. When I looked closer I realized it was fake, in the pictures it was slowly turning around so you could see the whole of it. Next to the fake penis was a picture of a pink colored penis, it was smaller than the fleshy colored but more nobly.

As I scanned the pages I saw a large variety of a penis, all fake and some of them in extreme shapes.

"What is this?" I murmured.

"Sex toys." Hermione groaned.

I flipped through a few more pages, they didn't only show bright colored cocks and very large fleshy penises, some pictures showed round things or handcuffs that were used by the muggle police. Slowly it began to dawn on me.

"Oh, god, this is really strange." I groaned. "Ron gave you this to select a Christmas gift for the two of you?"

Hermione nodded.

"Wow." I breathed. I didn't knew my brother was that adventurous in the sac, I would have never thought that of him. Like Hermione said I was sure George had something to do with it but still it was a big sign that Ron felt comfortable enough to give it to Hermione.

"What did you want to ask about this?" I asked her as I remembered that she wanted to ask something.

"Don't you think it's strange?" she whispered.

"Strange? You mean that he wanted you to select toys to have fun with?"

Hermione nodded again, blushing brightly.

"Maybe, a bit but that's because it's my brother and I wouldn't have guessed that he would even have the nerve to bring something like this to you. If Harry had asked me…I would be…happily surprised."

"You wouldn't think it strange? Like you are insulting him if you pick out something bigger than him or something that gives you more pleasure?"

"Hermione, I honestly don't think Ron want you to use it alone, he said for us, didn't he?"

"What do you mean?"

"He is asking you to pick out something that the both of you could have fun with. He could use things like this on you, or he could watch you using it and enjoy himself watching you. Anything really?"

"So you don't think it's weird?"

"Thinking these things about my brother is weird as hell, but no not really, actually I wished Harry would have come up with something like that, could be exciting."

"Ginny! Only out of your mouth something like that could come. You are a true sister of Fred and George."

I chuckled as the blush on her face receded, well I had the Weasley name to live up too.

Now less than twenty-four hours later I had wished Colleen a good Christmas, told her to be careful as Harry was pretty sure her dad hadn't send those invitation and I was back at the Burrow sitting at the dinner table with the whole family. It was busy with Charlie, Bill, Fleur, Hermione and Harry there but it felt as home and we had fun. The talk was about the upcoming Christmas party and the major part of the Weasley family seemed to be very curious about Harry's house.

"Hermione?" I heard Harry whisper next to me.

"Yeah?"

"I have some good news for you."

I looked up to watch the two talking.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Kingsley's men have found your parents."

Hermione gasped and Ron wrapped his arm around her, the whole table fell quiet. Hermione's parents were a very difficult topic to discus, it hurt Hermione a lot that she had erased herself from their memory, she knew she had done it to keep them safe but she missed them a lot.

Over the summer Harry had asked Kingsley for help but so far they were to busy and had no luck in locating them. I knew Hermione had given up any real hope to ever find them.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked Harry.

"Yes, Kingsley showed me a picture they had taken, I'm very sure that they are Hermione's parents. Kingsley asked me to invite you to come to his office tomorrow, Hermione."

"Why?" She whispered.

"He wants to discus your…uhm…options with you. He wants to talk about how to proceed."

Hermione nodded but her eyes glazed over, I could see that she was already lost in her thoughts. Ron murmured sweet words but I doubted that they reached their goal. Around us the conversations restarted but the three of us worried about Hermione, who after fifteen minutes still seemed to be lost in her head.

After dinner Ron helped her up and stirred her towards the stair, Harry and I followed. Once upstairs in Ron's bedroom Hermione lowered herself on his bed and broke down in tears. Sobbing words non of us could understand. Ron pulled her closer to him, rubbing her lower back softly but her sobbing continued uncontrollably.

"I…shouldn't… I… why did I?...they…will…hate…me." were a few words that did came out.

"Hermione?" I asked but she didn't even look up, she started to rock back and forward against Ron's chest.

"Hermione, sweetheart?" Ron asked as her pushed her hair out of her face. Her eyes were wide with fear but she didn't react to Ron either. "What's wrong with her?" Ron asked Harry, his voice started to panic. Harry shook his head, looking at the little witch in front of him. After a minute or two he got up and walked out of the door, only a few seconds later he returned followed by my mother.

"What's is wrong?" She asked.

"I told her that Kingsley's men had found her parents. At first I thought she was just shocked but she's sobbing and rocking like that for ten minutes already and we can't snap her out of it."

My mom looked at Hermione with concern, thinking wrinkles appeared on her face. After a while she dropped on her knees so that she was level with Hermione. Mom placed both hands on her face and kissed her forehead. Hermione whimpered and sobbed louder. Suddenly mom pulled Hermione in her arms and hugged her.

"Oh, Molly." Hermione cried. "What have I done!"

It sounded like a tortured wail coming from her and Ron immediately paled.

"Shhh, it will be alright, darling." Mom whispered.

"No, it won't, they will hate me, they will be afraid of me, what if they don't remember me, what if they don't want to remember, what if they can't restore their memory, what if they don't accept my explanation, what if…"

"Enough, Hermione." Mom said firmly. "You did the right thing, you did what you had to do to protect them from things they couldn't protect themselves from. Once you or Kingsley explain it to them they will understand. You are their daughter, they will love you no matter what."

"What if they are going to be afraid of me?" she whispered.

"Than we will invite them here, show them how fantastic magic can be." Mom smiled at her. Slowly mom pulled Hermione of her again lowered her on the bed. Hermione looked very pale with wet red eyes, almost like she was sick. I saw a shiver ran over her and Ron pulled his blanket over her.

"I'm going to get you some strong tea and than you have some sleep. Tomorrow if you want me too I'll come with you to Kingsley and we will talk about it."

Hermione smiled carefully at her.

"Thank you, Molly."

Mom left the room, when she closed the door Hermione pulled the blanket completely over her and groaned.

"I'm sorry, Hermione." Harry whispered.

"Don't be, I'll be alright." She whispered from under the blanket. "I just had a panic attack."

'Are you feeling alright now?" Ron asked carefully. Hermione pulled the blanket down a bit so she could look at Ron.

"I'm cold and I still feel really scared."

Ron crawled up the bed and wrapped his arms around her. He held her until mom brought tea and told us to make sure Hermione would get some sleep. After the tea it didn't took Hermione long to fall asleep, I suspected mom adding a little sleeping potion to the tea.

"I have to go." Harry whispered.

"What? Why?"

"I let Drooble and Kreacher in charge of the decorations and I want to make sure they don't over do it. Also I still have an other house-elf to talk to." He answered with a little wink.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, I'm picking up Hermione to go to Kingsley. The ministry is littered with press and they will attack her for interviews, I want to prevent her falling to their prey."

"Always thinking about somebody else. Be careful alone in that house."

"I will."

Harry kissed me softly and left the room leaving me with a worried Ron and a sleeping Hermione. We both looked at Hermione for a while, she was sleeping peacefully, her breathing was slow.

"I didn't knew she was so full of fear about her parents." Ron murmured as he brushed his fingers through his hair.

"Me neither. She never talked much about it."

"Not to me. I wished she had." Ron said sadly.

"What do you two talk about?" I wondered.

"Future plans, Death Eaters, Werewolves, family, you and Harry, lately it has been a lot about what to do after Hogwarts but never did she mentioned her parents."

Hermione murmured something in her sleep and rolled over.

"Maybe I should go to bed as well." I said as I got up. Ron nodded and slowly got up as well.

"Gin?"

"Yes." I said as I opened the door.

"Can I ask for a favor?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Uhm, are you done with your Christmas shopping?" he asked. I wondered briefly where he was going with this question but the fact that he was blushing intrigued me.

"Not completely." I answered honestly.

"Would please come with me to Diagon alley tomorrow when Hermione is at the ministry?"

"Why?"

"Well, you apparently still need to shop and I hoped you would help me pick out my gift for Hermione." He said blushing even redder.

"I thought you were giving her very interesting toys?"

"She told you?" Ron gasped.

"Yeah, she thought it was weird, I thought it was very…interesting. You might give Harry some ideas." I winked.

Ron sputtered for a second but recovered rather quickly. I recognized that he too was becoming more and more mature, his ability to deal with these kind of things was growing. Ron was becoming a man, the boyish behavior had been lost in the war and now the real Ron was slowly appearing.

"That was a diversion, if she wants something from that she can have it but it was to distract her from what I'm really getting her. So are you coming with me?"

He was getting me more and more curious.

"Yes, I'll come. We'll leave immediately after Harry and Hermione, I want to go to the Summer house after that."

The next morning Ron and I kissed our special person goodbye, I promised Harry to be at the Summer house later that afternoon and as soon as a smiling Harry and a scared looking Hermione apparated Ron and I walked to the fire place.

"You two be careful." Mom said as she pecked us on the cheek.

"We will mom." Ron nodded and took out the floo-powder.

"Where did you want to go?" Ron asked as we walked through the gate into Diagon Alley.

"Don't you have somewhere to go first?"

"I'm…I'm working up my courage." He blushed.

"Ron, I'm not going to help you pick out lingerie for Hermione, that would be weird."

"No, no, not lingerie. Give me time, please. Let's do your shopping first."

I looked at him and wondered why he suddenly looked scared and excited at the same time but I nodded.

"I have to get a good dress for Christmas eve and I want to buy a new travelling cloak for Harry as a Christmas present, so lets go to madam Malkin's first."

Ron was actually quite helpful with the shopping, he was a bit taller than Harry but he worked really well as a test subject to the cloaks I selected from and even his reaction to the dress I was showing him, he helped me decided. After that we went to Witch's Magical Accessories to buy a gift for Fleur and Audrey, Ron was happy that I reminded him to buy something for them, he had forgotten. I also made a stop at a toys store to buy my niece or nephew in the making a gift.

Ron suggest to go to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink when it was already lunch time.

"I have everything now, where are we going for your gift?" I asked as I sipped at my butterbeer.

Ron sputtered again and blushed a deep shade of red.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course." I smiled.

"Even from Harry?"

"Yes."

"For three day?"

"Until Christmas eve, yes, if you want me too."

"Yes, you have to keep this a secret but you have to help me, please." Ron begged.

"Okay, big brother, what is going on in your mind." I laughed.

Ron glanced around to see if nobody was listening, everything the trio did was still headline news and it was clear Ron didn't want anyone to spoil his secret.

"We are going to the Goblin's Jewel crest. You know that shop next to the bank?"

I nodded.

"Well I have a appointment there."

"For what?"

"You'll see, lets go." Ron said as he bottomed his fire-whiskey.

We walked into the store and immediately a Goblin came walking our way.

"Ah, mister Weasley, it's good to see you. This must be your sister." The Goblin said friendly.

"Yes, this is Ginerva Weasley."

"It's nice to meet you miss Weasley, I sure hope to see your man here soon. That would be really splendid. Follow me please."

I fell my mouth drop open in surprise and I glanced at Ron, who silently laughing at me reaction. What in Merlin's name was the Goblin hinting at?

We were led into a smaller but more welcoming room, on the walls there were shelves of glass cases showing some sort of jewel.

"Now in your letter you wrote you wanted a small but meaningful ring. Based on that and on your recent history I have made a small selection. You can look at those first if you want to see more options you can have a look around the wall." The Goblin said.

I looked at Ron as he nodded, he was still looking nervous and excited all at once and suddenly it clicked.

"You are buying an engagement ring!" I gasped.

Ron nodded with a blush.

"That's amazing, Hermione will freak." I giggled.

"Do you think she will say, yes?" He asked doubtful

"Of course, she will say yes, Hermione loves you."

"You don't think it's a bit too early?"

"Maybe but you have always had your own way of doing things and this is actually really romantic."

Ron smiled at me as the Goblin placed a stack of different boxes on the table.

"I'll leave you to look at them."

Ron smiled nervously and nodded at the Goblin.

"You have to help me find the perfect one. Do you know Hermione's ring size?" he whispered.

"Yes, it's the same as mine, we share some of our jewelry."

"Good, now what would she like?" Ron asked as he looked at the boxes.

"I think you are on a good way, small but meaningful, Hermione wouldn't like big diamonds or glitzy things."

"No, that's what I thought as well, still what to pick."

We opened all the boxes and looked in them, I didn't say anything about those I liked for Hermione or myself, all of them were beautiful.

"What do you think?" Ron asked when we viewed all the options.

"I'm not going to select one for you, you choose and I'll prevent you from making a mistake." I said as I shook my head.

Ron looked at me, hurt and shock change to betrayal and I knew what he was thinking about.

"Listen Ron, Hermione would appreciate the ring anyway but she would appreciate it a lot more if she knew you selected it. I'm going to honestly tell you if you select one that I'm sure she won't like."

He sighed and turned back to the boxes in front of him. After a while he started to move away a few boxes, I agreed with all those he dismissed, in the end he had three boxes left.

"I like these three." He murmured.

"Which one do you want to see on her finger?" I asked. His eyes widened a bit as he thought over my question, somehow I had the feeling that only now the magnitude of what he was going to do hit.

"Her engagement ring." He murmured. He suddenly picked up the one that I would have selected for Hermione and turned to me.

"Will you please try this one on? Your skin is a pale as Hermione's I want to see how it looks with the skin color."

I nodded and took the ring and slid it over my finger.

"Perfect." Ron breathed.

"I agree, this was the one I selected for Hermione as well."

"Thanks, Gin."

"A special choice Mr. Weasley." The Goblin said from the corner. "That ring I made on the day the Dark Lord was destroyed and the stone I found on the nineteenth of September, eighteen years ago."

"Hermione's birthday." Ron whispered.

"That's why I put this one in the selection." The goblin nodded.

Now completely convinced that this was the right ring, Ron signed the form that allowed the Goblins to complete the payment from his vault. A bright smiling Ron whistled as he left the shop.

I found it really difficult to keep Ron's secret, especially from Harry, it was so exciting. I almost shouted it out the moment I set foot in the Summer house. It was a good thing Harry wasn't home yet, it gave me some time to calm down.

"Shall I take up your things, miss?" Drooble asked as he closed the door behind me.

"Yes, please. This bag holds a Christmas gift for Harry, please make sure he can't find it."

Drooble nodded and apparated, leaving me in standing in the hallway. The old gas lamp was beautifully decorated with Mistletoe and sparkling red stars. Slowly I made my way to the living room admiring the colorful Christmas decoration throughout the hallway. As I slowly opened the door I heard an Elf singing Christmas songs. I peaked around the corner to see Kreacher decorating a massive Christmas tree. The elf was actually smiling.

I stepped into the room to look at the whole Christmas tree.

"Mistress Weasley." Kreacher greeted me when he noticed me.

"Hello Kreacher, that Christmas tree is huge."

"Yes, yes, master Harry says lots of presents should be placed under them."

I nodded and made my way to the sofa, I decided to read the new witch weekly while I waited for Harry. Drooble brought me tea and something to eat and Kreacher regularly asked if I liked the decoration. It felt really homey, I could dream of myself living like this, all that was missing was Harry and maybe in the far future some small kids running around.

After a bit more than a hour I heard the door open and Drooble hurried out of the room. Kreacher looked up at me and stopped what he was doing to wait for Harry to come in and approve.

"Miss Weasley is here as well." I heard Drooble inform Harry.

"Really, where is she?"

"In the living room, sir. She is with Kreacher."

I listened to Harry making his way through the hall and looked at the door as it opened. Harry skidded to a halt as he looked at me and saw me sitting on the sofa, something sparked in his eyes.

"Hey handsome." I breathed.

Harry flashed a smile and walked to me, dropping to his knees and pressing his lips against me. He kissed me passionately, with every breath it deepened until we were both panting.

"I love coming home to you like this, I could get used to it rather quickly." He whispered as he rested his forehead against mine.

"Me too."

"How was your day?" He asked as he sat down next to me.

"Busy, I got all my Christmas shopping done. Yours?"

"Alright, I went to Kingsley with Hermione but I left her there for a while so I could talk to Arn. When I got back Hermione was between breaking down again and jumping up and down in happiness. I brought her back to the Burrow so that your mom and Ron could take care of her. I went back to the ministry after that."

"What did you do all that time at the ministry?"

"I talked to Kingsley about Hermione's fear, he understood and we discussed a very difficult issue which will be in the prophet tomorrow."

"Which is?"

"You have heard about how Voldemort's regime strategically sentenced muggle-borns for their so called crimes, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, the ministry is having trouble locating all those people, also Kingsley is pretty sure some of them are actually dead, there are just so many people unaccounted for. The prophet got air of this and that lovely Skeeter woman immediately picked it up, so Kingsley wanted to take immediate action to prove to the world that we are looking for the lost member of our community."

"Isn't there a record of who they have sentenced?"

"No, not one clear enough to locate them, the only person who could know is missing."

"Who?"

"That bow-tied pink hag." Harry growled.

"Umbridge."

Harry nodded and looked out the window, like he expected her to show up on his doorstep.

"They are starting a search for her, I told Kingsley that I want her either dead or humiliated."

"He probably told you that they hoped to get her alive and that she would be properly punished and that because of that you aren't allowed to go looking for her."

"You know Kingsley so well." Harry chuckled.

"Nah, I know you pretty well, I can read your face."

Harry laughed and got up from the sofa, he turned around and held out his hand.

"Your mom is expecting us for dinner."

"Oh, damn."

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_PLEASE REVIEW!_


	35. Christmas bliss

_**OOh the Christmas dinner! I hope you are all going to like it... please make sure you read my notes at the end of the chapter!**_

_**Thank you all for the reviews on the last chapter, they were great...**_

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**35. Christmas bliss**

I was looking at myself in the mirror while Drooble tied the cord in my corset. The emerald green dress I bought when I was shopping with Ron fitted me like a glove. It had a build in corset and thanks to the ever helpful house-elf I was able to keep this a surprise for Harry.

"It's done, miss." Drooble said as he stepped away from me.

"It's perfect." I breathed. "Thanks Drooble."

"Drooble has to get back to the kitchen." The elf bowed and apparated.

I turned around to look at myself from all sides. I was very please with the results and started to dry and fix my hair up. I was just finishing when there was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Ginny?" I heard Hermione hiss.

"Yes, come in, Hermione."

I heard the door open as I pulled the last few hairs into place.

"Wow, you look amazing, Ginny."

"Thanks." I whispered as I turned around. I took my time to look at Hermione. To my surprise she also had chosen a witches robe to wear for tonight, it didn't hold a corset like mine but it flowed down her body like water. The bleu looked stunning on her, her make-up was done perfectly, only her hair was still bushy but that was what she was here for.

"What are you trying to do?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she replied as she blushed.

"Are you trying to kill my brother?"

She looked at herself in my mirror and broke out in laughter.

"Maybe." She chuckled. "Do you think it looks good?"

"Good? It's perfect, Ron will have a heart attack when he sees you."

Hermione blushed and looked in the mirror again.

"Could you do my hair?" she asked.

"Of course."

It took me a good twenty minutes to get that bushy hair of her to behave but the end result was worth it. Her hair was now in a sleek braid with curly twists falling out of it.

"Perfect." I said as I put my wand down.

"Thanks, Ginny. It looks beautiful."

"Ginny! Hermione! Come on, the guests will be arriving soon." Harry called from down stairs.

"Coming!" Hermione called back.

I took an other glance at the mirror, finally realizing that tonight I was the hostess, an adult job. I hoped that I had learned enough from my mother to pulled it off, at least I had two house-elves helping me and a third if necessary.

"Ready to make the guys drool." I asked as I took a deep breath. Hermione laughed and nodded, she was holding the door open for me. I slipped on my high heeled boots and followed Hermione out.

The stairs were decorated with garlands and red glowing orbs, the hallway was lit by floating candles. It looked really festive. The smells coming from the kitchen made my stomach rumbled, Drooble and Kreacher were out showing the Hogwarts elves.

"Smells good." Hermione commented as she took a deep breath.

"Hmm."

I opened the door to the living room where Ron and Harry were discussing the latest Quidditch results. It became very quiet when we walked in. I turned to look at the sofa and I found two boys sitting, mouth wide open and drool almost coming out of it. I have to admit that the boys had almost the same effect on us. Ron was dressed in a new black festive robe and Harry was wearing the most beautiful old fashioned dark red colored wizards robe. I guessed it was one from Drooble's collection. It made him look so damn handsome that I started to worry about me being able to hold myself together and not jump on him tonight.

Harry got up and pulled me into his arms.

"You look stunning." He whispered.

"You too." I breathed as I captured his lips with mine.

When he pulled away I had a chance to look around the room, it was beautifully decorated, the huge tree was glowing radiant and the gifts were already under it. The room had some comfortable chairs added to it so it could accommodate all the guests and the massive doors to the dinning room were decorated with green and red garlands. For now Harry decided to keep the doors closed and have Kreacher open them when it was time to sit down for dinner. I had seen the decorations in there already and also the set up of the table and it looked amazing, I would really enjoy seeing mom's reaction to that.

Kreacher appeared with elf-brewed wine and some small bites to put on the table.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked Harry.

"Yeah, it's going to be an amazing night."

"Is everybody coming together?" Hermione asked.

"No, Luna is coming with Neville and his grandmother, Andromeda and Teddy will probably apparate here and the rest of the Weasleys are coming apart as well."

Harry hadn't finished talking when there was a knock on the door. A few seconds later I heard Drooble open the door.

"George." Harry whispered as we heard a voice coming from the hallway.

"He's early." Ron said as he looked at the clock.

"Master Harry, Mr. George Weasley is here." Drooble announced as he opened the door. Harry nodded and Drooble stepped aside to let George through.

"Wow, Harry, this house looks amazing." George said as he looked around.

"Thanks." Harry agreed.

George was wearing a bit more casual clothes but still he looked sharp. George took his time to look around and sat down on one of the single chairs next to Hermione. Kreacher brought him wine and soon we were all talking happily about the shop and school.

"Are you going to Angela's parents tomorrow?" Hermione asked him.

"Yeah, just for lunch." George said as he sipped the wine. "Wow, Harry this wine is really good."

With in the next ten minutes Bill and Fleur arrived, followed closely by Audrey and Percy. Fleur and Audrey were discussing Fleur's pregnancy and every second Fleur seemed to glow even more. The part Veela looked absolutely stunning being pregnant.

When Andromeda and Teddy arrived Fleur went into a mothers mode I had never seen before, she cuddled and played with the little boy as if her life depended on it.

"Hormones." Bill explained.

I nodded and continued to look at the pregnant woman and the little guy. His hair was a bright shade of yellow, according to Andromeda it meant he was happy.

"It took me a long time to figure out the meaning is his hair color but I think I got it now." Andromeda explained to Harry.

Slowly the room started to fill, as Luna, Neville and his grandmother showed up. Neville's grandmother sat down next to Andromeda and started talking about the latest gossip in the wizarding world.

"With Kingsley at the helm everything will turn back to normal slowly." Mrs. Longbottom said.

"I don't know what normal is anymore. I remember him already gaining power when I got out of school." Andromeda sighed.

"It's always like that, normal is a dark wizard trying to gain power and a hero in the wizarding world preventing that. It used to be Dumbledore, I suspect Harry will be the one they will look at for direction."

"If Harry wants to be that guy." Andromeda pointed out.

"I don't think he will have much choice, Dumbledore didn't have much choice either." Mrs. Longbottom sighed.

We were still waiting for mom, dad and Charlie when there was a knock on the door.

"Mom and dad?" I whispered to Harry. He started to nod but than the voice of Kingsley reached us. Harry got up and walked towards the door, I decided to follow him.

"Ah, Harry, Ginny." Kingsley said as he shook my hand. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks." I mumbled as I blushed.

"What can I do for you, Kingsley?" Harry asked.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your Christmas party but I have something that might cheer one of your guests up." Kingsley said as he stepped aside to reveal the door. It was still open and just outside were two people, I didn't knew personally but I immediately recognized them.

"Oh." Harry whispered as he nodded. "Come in, come in." He said to the scared and cold looking muggles standing outside.

"I'm very happy you two are here." Harry smiled as Drooble closed the door behind them. "May I introduce my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley to you. I think you have heard a lot about her."

"Yes, yes, we have." The man said as he shook my hand.

"Ginny these are Hermione's parents." Harry explained as I shook the hand of the older woman.

"I thought so, Hermione looks a lot like both of you actually." I whispered.

"Why are we whispering?" Hermione's father asked

"Because I don't want to freak out Hermione, she has had a hard time dealing with what she has done to you." Harry explained

"That sounds like our Hermione. She was probably worrying that we were angry with her or something." The man nodded.

"Yes, she was very scared, even more about the fact that you two would now be afraid of her and of what she can do." I told them.

"Typical Hermione, your minister explained everything to us and we understand that Hermione did what was necessary to keep us safe."

"Well, I have to go, Harry if you need anything let me know."

"What about Mr. and Mrs. Granger house? Or where are they staying?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I have booked a hotel room and after Christmas were are going to what we can do about their house, if we can reverse the sale."

"They can stay here as well." Harry murmured.

"That's up to you."

We said goodbye to Kingsley and thought about what to do next.

"Gin, could you get Hermione to the library, it's her comfort area I think it will be best to do this there." Harry said thoughtfully.

I nodded and returned to the living room, everybody was chatting and laughing. The main focus was on Teddy who was crawling around chasing bubbles Bill was making with his wand. I walked over to Ron and Hermione.

"Could you two come with me for a second." I whispered. They both looked up worried but I tried to smile at them and convince them that everything was alright. Ron and Hermione followed me out of the living room to the other side of the house.

"Library?" Hermione asked.

I nodded and opened the door and held it open for her. Within seconds there were loud squeals and sobs. Hermione rushed to her mother and fell into her arms. It was a very emotional scene, very private. I glanced at Harry and we both left the room to wait for my parents and Charlie to arrive. We hadn't even made it to the living room when there was a loud knock on it.

"You get that, I have to tell Kreacher to set the table for two more." Harry whispered as he turned to kitchen.

Drooble beat me to the door and let mom, dad and Charlie in the moment I came around the corner.

"Ginny!" my mom screamed. "Oh goodness, you look so beautiful, so grown up."

I was pulled in a bone crushing hug by mom. Dad quickly saved me by hugging me lightly.

"We are sorry we're late, we waited for Charlie to arrive."

"It's alright, the evening is going different than we had planned anyway."

"Hey, little sister." Charlie said as he pulled me in a other hug.

"Hey, Charlie, it's good to see you again." I smiled at him before turning to Drooble. "Could you take that upstairs, the green room is for Charlie."

"Yes, miss." Drooble nodded and apparated with Charlie's bags.

"Useful, house-elves." Charlie commented.

"Oh, you haven't seen half of it." I chuckled, as Drooble re-appeared.

"What did you mean about the evening is not going as planned?" Mom asked as she handed her coat to Drooble.

"Kingsley showed up just a few minutes ago. He had a big surprised for Hermione."

"Her parents." Mom immediately caught on.

"Yes. They are in the library talking or crying."

"library?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, I'll show you tomorrow. Come on lets get to the others or they will worry."

I showed my parents and Charlie to the living room and let them in.

"Wow, Gin, this house is amazing."

"I know, tomorrow you have time to look around, the private rooms are only accessible if you're a Potter, so you done have to worry about trespassing." I chuckled.

"So you haven't seen all of it either?" Charlie asked.

"Oh, I have seen everything, Harry arranged that I'm a part of that. The house-elves follow my order as well." I explained to Charlie as I led them into the living room.

I sat down next to Luna. I did that on purpose, it was my way to drawing Charlie's attention to Luna. I think it worked because he sat down in the chair next to her.

"Where is Harry?" Neville asked.

"In the kitchen, we have two extra guests and he went to inform Kreacher."

"Oh, who is coming?" Luna asked.

"Hermione's parents, Kingsley came by to drop them off."

"I thought they were in Australia." Neville said.

"Yeah, they were but Kingsley's men were able to track them down. It's been quite the emotional ride for Hermione. I think it will take a while before they return from the library."

Harry returned after five minutes followed by Kreacher and Drooble who were serving out some extra one bite dishes. The wine flowed freely and the sounds reached top level.

Suddenly I felt something pull at my dress, as I looked down I saw little tuffs of yellow hair.

"Hey little guy." I said as I pulled Teddy onto my lap. Slowly his hair colored purple.

"He's getting hungry." Andromeda said as she saw his hair change.

"Useful, that hair color system." I nodded. "Kreacher!" I called.

"Yes, Miss."

"This little guy is hungry, could you make a bottle for him." I asked.

"Of course." And with a pop he disappeared.

I held Teddy in my arms as I talked to Neville about his training for becoming a teacher, he was so proud of himself and really happy that everybody supported him. Every now and than I glanced at Harry, he was talking with Bill but had his eyes on me. There was something in his eyes that made me stir.

I glanced around the room to look what everybody was doing, as I expected Neville's gran and Andromeda were chatting and gossiping away, also as I hoped and a little expected Luna and Charlie were actively discussing magical creatures, Audrey, Fleur and mom were looking at me, just as strangely as Harry, while the boys all talked and drank loudly.

It was a special evening, it was nice and I hoped that Hermione and Ron would return quickly.

Kreacher returned with a bottle for Teddy and handed it to me. I wanted to pass him on to Fleur or Andromeda but they were busy talking.

"What's wrong, mistress Weasley?" kreacher asked.

"I don't know how to feed him." I whispered.

"Kreacher will show you, Kreacher fed master Regulus and master Sirius when they were little."

I nodded and the house elf climbed up the chair next to me. He showed me how to hold Teddy and hold the bottle, in a whispering voice he explained what to watch out for. It was actually really sweet of the elf to do all that.

I was so focused on what Kreacher was showing and telling that I didn't notice that the whole room had gone quiet. When Teddy finally took the bottle and I held him, I smiled down. I heard somebody sniffle and I looked up, I was met by my mothers proud eyes.

"Mom, you know that this is Teddy, right. Not my own child." I muttered and the whole room erupted in laughter.

"What's so funny?" Somebody asked from the door.

"Your mother, Ron." George laughed.

"And your sister." Charlie chuckled.

Ron looked up at my and saw Teddy in my arms, props for him to immediately catching on.

"Mom, I like to think that Ginny is still too young for even thinking about having babies." He chuckled.

"Harry?" A red eyed Hermione asked.

"Yes."

"Is it alright that…"

"Yes."

"and is there room…"

"Yes."

"Harry let the girl finish." My mom chided.

Harry smiled at her and than turned to Hermione.

"Yes, it is alright for your parents to stay here, I have already promised them that, Drooble is already preparing the last guest bedroom, and yes, Kreacher has already set the table for two extra."

Hermione swooped down and kissed Harry on his cheek.

"Thank you, that it so wonderful."

"As long as you are happy." Harry whispered to her.

Hermione´s parents settled next to my mom and dad, where my dad did his part in his hospitality and draw in John Granger into a conversation about muggles.

"Mistress Weasley, Kreacher has dinner ready, shall I take the baby upstairs and Drooble serve dinner?" Kreacher asked after I finished feeding Teddy.

"Yes, I think we are all very hungry." I nodded. The small elf lifted the drowsing Teddy in his gentle arms and took his upstairs.

"Where's he going with Teddy?" Andromeda asked.

"He's taking Teddy upstairs to sleep." I said as I got up. "Harry, Drooble is ready to serve dinner."

"About time, I'm hungry." Ron groaned.

Everybody laughed at the comment that was so typical Ron. Harry got up as well, he reached for my hand and pulled me towards the door to the dinning room.

"You look so damn beautiful, I have a hard time keeping my hands to myself." Harry whispered as we reached the door.

"You are not the only one having those kind of difficulty, mister I-look-to-handsome-for-my-own-good." I chuckled.

The rest of the guest followed us and Drooble opened the doors to a splendid decorated dinning table. I think everybody gasped and I heard my dad muttered something like 'so useful, magic' and I heard John Granger agree with him.

I turned to watch my mother, her eyes were wide and her mouth hanging slightly open.

The decorations were festive and really romantic. I felt the butterflies racing through my stomach when Harry helped me in my chair. He was turning into the perfect gentlemen when he was in this house, I had the feeling it had something to do with the house itself, it just held a sort of grown up magic. Even I felt it, it was like when you stayed here normal behavior wasn't good enough, normal dress clothes weren't good enough. It gave you a feeling of grandeur.

Once the whole group was seated I looked around, Kreacher had sat up the table perfectly and appointed places on my wish, I had only Luna and Charlie in mind and wanted them to be seated together but the whole seating plan worked out perfectly. Ron was sitting next to Harry, with Hermione beside him, her parents next to her, followed by mom and dad, than Percy and Audrey, Bill and Fleur, Andromeda and Neville's grandmother, Neville next to her, and Luna and Charlie next to George who was sitting next to me. It was perfect.

The soup and the main course were delicious and while the wine flowed freely I watched our guests being happy. It had been a very long time since we all felt happy during the Christmas holidays. Still, I saw mom glancing at George a few times, every time she did that her face fell a bit, I was sure she was missing Fred and I started to wish that we would have told her about Fred's spirit still being at the shop.

"George?" I whispered.

"Yes."

"When are you going to tell mom and dad?"

"About what?"

"About Fred?" I hissed.

"Oh that, I have invited them over tomorrow evening to have dinner with me, uhm us."

"You are going to tell her tomorrow?"

"Yes, it will be a Christmas gift. I thought that would be good."

"Just don't expect her to be happy in the beginning." Harry whispered. It was clear he had been listening to us.

"Why not?" George asked.

"Well, I think that she will be happy to be able to talk to him and everything but maybe she also hoped that he has happily moved on. I think it will be very strange for her."

George thought about this for a while, he looked worried at his mother.

"Do you think she'll be able to handle it, I mean, I was shocked the living daylights out of me when I saw him."

"Yeah, she's a strong woman." Harry nodded. I agreed with him, mom had been through a lot with out a pause, she would be able to deal with this as well.

Drooble and Kreacher took the plates away and cleared the table of the main course. I knew that they had made a beautiful Christmas desert and I couldn't wait put my teeth into that but before the house-elves returned the music was turned down. Much to my mom's annoyance as she was just starting to sing along with one of her favorite Christmas tunes. I was sure I saw Fleur sighed relieved.

I looked around to see who had turned the music down, the elves wouldn't have dared and there was no one close to the radio. From the corner of my eyes I saw Ron putting his wand back into his pocket.

I turned to look at Ron, he looked pale and a bit sweaty. Suddenly he stood up.

"May I?" He asked and everybody fell quiet. Harry grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed it, he knew. Damn Ron, couldn't keep his mouth shut while I had been bursting at the seams with keeping it in.

Everybody turned to Ron, which made him blush slightly.

"Now, I know this is Harry's and Ginny's party and as best friend and brother I should tell them thanks for the fantastic food and hospitality but they know how I feel about food so I'm not going to waste any time on that."

Everybody chuckled, while Harry nodded and smiled at his friend.

"I know I'm going about this a bit different, I'm sorry Mr. Granger, I should have asked you first but due known circumstances I couldn't and I just can't wait any longer to ask this. I have to admit that the two of you being here make this all the more perfect."

Ron stepped around his chair and Drooble hurried to get it out the way. Every eye in this house was on him, even all the inhabitants of the pictures and paintings were looking on. His hand drifted to his pocket and I saw him pull out the small dark blue box. Hermione looked up at her boyfriend very confused. Ron reached out for her hand and kissed it softly.

"Hermione, I know you are sometimes willing to kill me, I know sometimes I annoy you more than anything but I also know that you love me, you have told me so many times and I love you… more…than…any…thing." Ron took a deep breath to fight off the emotions.

"We…we have been…through…so…much together. I…don't think I can…I can ever forget the screams in the manor or the fear of losing you I felt during the battle."

He shook his head and closed his eyes for a second. Than without warning he dropped to one knee and the whole room gasped.

"Hermione, will you please be with me forever? Will you marry me?" He rushed the words out like they were burning him. Slowly he opened the box and revealed the ring. Hermione sat quivering in her chair, one hand in Ron's and the other slowly reaching out to him, tears were rolling down her face and her lips was trembling. I saw her mouth opening a few times to say something but no sound come out. I think she realized it herself and opted for just nodding.

Ron smiled and pulled her in his arms while the whole room erupted in cheers and catcalls. Sealing it with a deep kiss Hermione and Ron were apparently blissfully unaware of the commotion. After a minute or two they broke apart and Ron slid the ring over her finger.

"It fits." Hermione breathed.

"Always a hint of surprise." Ron whispered and Hermione chuckled. With in seconds my mom had her arms around the two of them and was hugging them closely. We all laughed as Ron tried to wiggled himself from her embrace. Hermione's parents followed next, her mother was crying and even her dad looked emotional.

"Never thought to see that happen, bro." George said and turned to Hermione. "Are you sure, you could have a adult version of this kid in Charlie."

Hermione just hit him on the shoulder and laughed. She looked so happy, almost as glowing as Fleur.

"Eets, great, Hermione, you are going to be my sister as well." Fleur laughed as she hugged her.

"I'm really happy for the both of you." Harry whispered as he pulled them both in a hug.

I congratulated them both, like Fleur I was excited to have Hermione as an official sister.

It took a while for the table to settle down, jokes were flying around and wedding dresses were already discussed. Luckily Hermione wasn't the one to rush into something and told my mom and her mom very clearly that she wanted to finished school and find a job first and than marry. When everybody sat down again Kreacher and Drooble appeared with desert. For everybody they made a small ice-cream filled chocolate cake which was decorated with small snowmen. In front of Ron and Hermione they placed one big plate with a cake that looked a hell of a lot like a wedding cake only very small. Written in golden letters was, _Congratulations from Kreacher, Drooble and Trinkle'_. It was really cute and Harry smiled with approval at the two elves. Hermione overcome with emotions got up and kissed both elves on the top of their head. I didn't think I would ever see the day a house-elf blushed.

"Our gift for her is going to be perfect." Harry hissed in my ear. I nodded, I could so see Ron and Hermione living in that house, raising bushy red heads.

When the elves cleared away the plates and cleaned the table Harry got up. Everybody fell quiet again, looking expectant.

"No, I'm not going to do that, although I can not wait for the moment I get my chance." Harry smiled as he glanced down at me, his eyes beaming wickedly. Suddenly I realized that he had a plan, that he knew exactly when he was going to pop the question.

"I want to thank you all for coming. I know we all have a very hard year, we have lost so much to gain some sort of freedom that this party could have easily been skipped and ignored and I wouldn't have blamed any one of you for doing that. Thanks to Ginny, who came up with the idea, and the help of my elves it has been a wonderful evening of memory and future. I dare say a happy future."

He smiled to Ron and Hermione and raised his glass.

"To a happy future, starting with you two getting engaged" Harry toasted.

"To a happy future." Everybody called out.

"I want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Granger for agreeing to come home. I know you two must have been really confused when Kingsley showed up and I know you have a lot to work out but you can stay here as long as you need, Drooble will be very happy to take care of you. You two being here in my parents house, with pictures of Remus, Tonks and Sirius on the wall, makes this family feel complete and it makes Hermione very happy. "

Both Granger smiled thankfully at Harry.

"Now, I invite you all to join us in the living room to continue this party, for those who are ready to go home or go to sleep feel free to leave. The rooms upstairs are all magically silenced so you won't hear the sounds from downstairs."

Everybody nodded and got up to make their way to the living room where one of the elves had turned the music up a bit, everybody was chatting happily. Harry and I remained behind, watching our guests being happy.

"I could get used to this." I breathed.

"To what?"

"Being grown-up. Having a man that is grown-up and having guests over like this. Live our lives like this."

"Hmm, I know what you mean, somehow this house brings out the best in me."

"In the both of us." I nodded.

"I love you, you know that right?" Harry asked as he turned to me.

"Yeah, you only repeat it every two minutes, but why do you ask?"

His hand cupped my face and he kissed me lightly.

"It's just, when I got up it felt like everybody was expecting a re-run of Ron's scene, I saw it even flash in your eyes. I don't want you to feel like I don't love you enough to do that."

"It's okay Harry, I know you have something planned, I saw it."

He smiled and kissed me again.

"I have, I really have." He chuckled.

"And it will be grand." I moaned.

"Oh yes." He smiled and got up. He held out his hand to help me up and pulled me in a hug.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look in that dress."

"You have." I chuckled.

" Do you mind me repeating it until I pull it of your body and tell you that you look better naked?"

I laughed and kissed him. My stomach quivered in anticipation but I knew it would have to wait.

"It will be a while when you can say that."

Harry laughed and made to move to the living room when his head suddenly snapped towards the window. He looked out and squinted his eyes.

"What is it?" I asked nervously.

"I…I think you were right about Charlie and Luna." He chuckled.

I gasped and ran to the window. In the large orchard were Kreacher had put up candles and mistletoe I saw Luna and Charlie walking, holding hands and laughing happily. Suddenly I saw Charlie stop and look up, mistletoe. He leaned down and pulled Luna into a sweet looking kiss.

"Oh." I squealed.

"My little matchmaker in the making." Harry chuckled as he pulled me away from the window.

The party in the living room was already in full swing when we closed the doors behind us. George and Bill were singing along with the weird Wizards, the ladies sat gossiping in the corner while Percy, Ron and dad were discussing the newest law changes. Neville was talking to Hermione, I overheard him talking about Susan.

"So you are in love with her?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno, maybe, she's great, smart and funny but I don't think she likes the idea of me teaching at Hogwarts. It's quite a pressing job and you have to stay there for the whole school year."

"Yes, but you have to consider what you want and I don't think it's required to stay there every night."

"Maybe your right, I'll think about it but for now I'm enjoying time with Susan."

"Ginny?"

I turned around to see Fleur next to me.

"Oh, hi Fleur, are you enjoying yourself?"

"Oh yes, it's a brilliant party. This house is so pretty and the gardens are so massive."

"Yeah, I really love this house."

Fleur nodded.

"Can I asked you something?" she asked.

"Anything."

"About you and Harry,… you looked sort of disappointed when e didn't proposed."

"What? Oh no, Fleur, you got that wrong. Harry would have done that with my birthday if he got the chance but I held it off."

"You don't want…?"

"No, I want too, some day, just not yet. I like being the grown-up here and give a good party and be a good hostess but marriage is something different, besides Harry already has a plan how to pop the question."

"Does e?"

"He says so."

Fleur chuckled.

"How are you doing Fleur?"

"Good, very tired but good. You mom knew something to help me with the morning sickness."

"Were you very sick?"

"No but eet was annoying, especially when I had to work. I was always late." Fleur sighed as she shook her long hair.

"Do you know if it's going to be a boy or a girl?"

"No, my mum says eet will be a girl but Bill is hoping for a boy."

"A girl would be nice, I'm the only real Weasley girl, I need some support."

Fleur laughed freely. "I'll try." She chuckled. "You looked good with a baby in your arms, little Teddy is so cute."

I blushed but nodded. "it's a cute boy, he is Harry's godson so I take it that I will have to do some mothering in the future as well."

"Yes but I saw the house-elf doing a good job, e can do it for you."

"Nah, Kreacher is great but I want to be a part in Teddy's life. I'll become aunt Ginny. I have to get used to that anyway." I says as I nodded towards her growing belly.

Soon after that conversation the older part of the group left, Percy and Audrey were expected to arrive early at her parents next morning, mom and dad claimed to be tired and Fleur wasn't able to stay awake much longer either so Bill took her home. Very conveniently Charlie and Luna slipped into the room as Bill and Fleur left.

"Bro, where have you been." George called a bit drunk as he spotted Charlie.

"Outside, enjoying the beautiful gardens."

"And my fellow D.A. member, I guess." George chuckled. Charlie and Luna both blushed a bit but they didn't gave into George's baiting.

"Harry, I have to go as well, Teddy will need feeding soon."

"I'll ask Kreacher to get him." Harry nodded and walked towards the kitchen. It took him longer than I though to return but when the door opened Kreacher walked in, followed by Harry who was holding Teddy close to his chest. In his free hand he was holding a bottle.

"Teddy was already awake, Kreacher was feeding him." Harry explained as he sat down on the sofa. I felt my legs go weak as I watched Harry feeding the little boy. He was whispering things to Teddy, I heard Remus and Tonk's names repeated regularly. It was like Harry was telling Teddy about his parents. Andromeda got up and sat down next to Harry, she wrapped her arm around him and they both looked down at the baby.

"He will know how great his parents were." Harry whispered.

"Yes, I'm hoping you will tell him all you know about Remus." Andromeda nodded.

"I will, as much as he wants to hear it."

I laid my hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezed him softly. He looked up at me, his eyes were so sad, they were full of hurt and sadness for the little guy.

"You'll be a great godfather, Harry, the only real link he has to his father. Together we will take care of him." I whispered. Harry smiled at me and turned his eyes back the Teddy. He had finished his bottle and Kreacher took it from Harry.

"I'll take him home before he falls asleep again." Andromeda said. "he gets cranky when he is woken up to early and apparating wakes him up."

Harry handed Teddy back to Andromeda and ordered Kreacher to get the coats and diaper bag.

Harry and I walked Andromeda and Teddy to the door.

"You two should come and visit over Easter, that is if you have time with studying for your NEWTS." Andromeda said as she stepped out the door.

"We will make time." Harry promised. "In the mean time, if there is anything just let us know."

"I will."

"Even if it's only so you can have a few hours off to go shopping or something. With Kreacher helping I'm sure we will be able to babysit for a few hours."

"I might take you up on that offer." Andromeda smiled. "Have a good Christmas."

She waved and walked to the apparition spot. We waved her goodbye and closed the door.

Harry and I looked at each other for a long time, passion and something unnamed burned between us. Before I could take a breath Harry's lips crashed against mine. I answered his passionate kissed with equal desire, letting my tongue begging for entrance. I felt Harry's hands roam over my body, brushing my breasts and creeping along my inner thigh.

"Harry, we still have guests." I moaned.

"I don't care." He murmured.

"Harry, we can't do this yet." I whispered again.

He groaned and pulled back. "It's not fair, you looking like this and I have to wait for hours to touch you."

"You talk about fair, what about me?"

"What about you?"

"You walk around like sex-on-legs and I have to wait until the guests are all going to bed."

Harry laughed and kissed me sweetly again.

"Lets get back to our guests." He sighed.

An hour later the clock told us rather loudly that it was mid-night. Hermione's parents had been taken up by Kreacher much earlier, Neville's grandmother had left to give us youngsters some time to chat so only the D.A. members were left. It was a comfortable group, everybody knew what we had been through and everybody knew a look was enough to convey feelings. We knew each other and had no secrets. It made talking freely all the more easy. Even Charlie was taken in as a real part of that special feeling because we all wanted Luna to be happy.

"Luna, what time do you want to go to St. Mungo's?" I asked when I sat down next to her.

"Oh, maybe after lunch. Daddy gets lunch at half past twelve."

"Shall we go at one?"

"Yes, that would be great." Luna smiled.

"Do you have any other plans for your Christmas holidays?" I asked and I didn't fail to notice that Charlie leaned forward to listen to her reply.

"No, not really, I'll be home taking care of the house and plants. Maybe I'll go to Diagon Alley and buy some books to read."

I didn't fail to miss the sadness in her voice, she was going to be alone the whole Christmas break. I wanted to help her, to be there for her but before I could think of something Luna yawned and got up.

"I think I'll go to bed, the wine is making me drowsy."

"Drooble will show you your room." I said with a smile.

Charlie followed Luna upstairs, earning himself an other cat call from George.

"I'm going as well, I'm going to St. Mungo's early, I have a meeting with my parent's healer. He requested I made some time to talk to him." Neville said as he emptied his glass.

"Oh, do you know why?" Hermione asked.

"No, but I'll come by later this week to tell you. Are you all at the Burrow?"

"Yeah, probably, but you are welcome here as well." Harry said.

"Thanks, maybe when I can get away from Gran I will visit a few times." Neville smiled and waved goodbye. Leaving the five of us sitting in silence, we all were feeling the effects of the wine.

"I think I'll go to sleep as well." George yawned.

"Yeah, lets call it a night." Harry nodded, he flashed a very sexy smile towards me. I couldn't even disagree, the smile created some boiling feeling inside my lower belly. I was more than ready to get Harry undressed, the small touches and heated kisses made me very ready to get upstairs.

Harry got up and spoke to Kreacher and Drooble for a while, probably about breakfast and the gifts for tomorrow morning and than he turned to me. He held his hand out for me and pulled me along with the other up the stairs.

"Harry, have I told you how amazing your house is?" George asked as he reached the landing.

"Yes, you have, I think I will hear it again after you have seen your bathroom." Harry chuckled. George grinned and ran towards his bedroom. We bid Ron and Hermione a good night, judging by the look in Ron's eyes it was going to be a long time before they would actually sleep. Hermione looked a little flushed but extremely happy.

"Remember that you aren't married yet!" Harry called after them as we turned to the next stair that would lead us to the master bedroom.

"Close your eyes." Harry whispered as we reached the door. His voice was deep and sensual. Without hesitation I closed my eyes, seconds later I felt something soft wrap around my head. Automatically my hands reached up to feel what was around my hand.

"A blindfold?" I breathed.

"Just let it stay on." Harry whispered. I felt him grab my hand and heard the door open. Slowly Harry guided me into the bedroom.

"Stay here for a second."

I nodded and stood perfectly still, my ears straining to hear a sound. I could hear Harry's soft footsteps on the carpet, I could hear the rustle of fabric, I was even able to place him. He was behind me, somewhere in the area of the bed.

Suddenly I felt something pull at my back, I gasped and wanted to turned around.

"Stay."

There was another pull at the back of my dress, suddenly I felt my corset being loosened.

"This dress is beautiful." Harry murmured as he slid it of my shoulders. I let my arms drop next to me, feeling the dress slide off them. I felt Harry placing soft kisses on my shoulder, his hands pushing my dress down till it fell to the ground. His fingers traced slowly over my bottom, leaving a trail of fire.

Slowly the kisses turned more wet but before I could really enjoy it he stopped. I felt his hand against mine again, his fingers wrapped around mine and he turned me around and pulled me forward. After a few steps Harry turned me and picked me up.

"What are you doing?" I chuckled.

"Helping you safely in bed."

"You could have just taken the blindfold off."

"No, just enjoy the feeling." He whispered causing a involuntary shiver running through my body. Slowly Harry laid me down and disappeared again. I heard him shuffle through the room and after a few seconds I felt the mattress move, indicating that Harry saw with me on the bed.

"turn around." Harry whispered.

I turned on my stomach and wondered what he was planning. Suddenly I felt something cold and liquid on my back. It was quickly followed by his hands. _Massage oil!_ I moaned softly as Harry's strong hands rubbed over my back, pushing away all the stress I didn't even knew I had.

First his hands stayed on the upper part of my back, my shoulder and my neck. Sometimes his hands slipped down my sides and brushed the sides of my breast. After a while he worked his hands lower, and lower and lower until he was spreading the oil over my bottom and the back of my legs. It felt so damn good.

Sometimes he would brush my sensitive flesh, I was sure he could feel the wetness leaking out from my core. Much to my annoyance he took his time with my legs, only removing his hands further away from where I really needed his touch.

"Turn around." He whispered again.

I did as I was told, hoping Harry would take off the blindfold, I wanted to see the passion burn in his eyes, I wanted to beg him to take me with one look but instead I felt it tighten around my head.

"No watching." Harry told me as I heard him placing his wand back on the night stand. I felt more oil dripping on my stomach it was warm now, almost hot. I couldn't help but hiss in pleasure.

His hands moved over my stomach, slowly rubbing circles chasing away any kind of tension that was left in my body. Every now and than he would brush my breasts, only lightly touching the undersides of them. I never knew that it was such a sensitive spot.

My hand moved towards I thought Harry was, I want to feel him, touch him but before I could reach him his hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Blindfolds should be enough for now, I don't want to use ropes. Just enjoy." I felt Harry hiss at my ear. Holy smokes! Was he serious? I was seriously debating trying to touch him just to see if he was serious about the ropes. Although I had never seriously considered it, somehow when he said it the idea sounded very sexy.

"Don't even think about it." Harry chuckled.

"Ah, you know me so well."

"Even without seeing your eyes flash with mischief." Harry laughed.

His hands slowly explored the upper half of my body, playing with my nipples and tracing the edges of what felt good and what tickled.

With my eyes closed my skin felt more sensitive, more alive. The slightest touch had me shiver and moan. It wasn't all surprising that I let out a high pitched moan when his fingers brushed the hot flesh between my legs.

"Sensitive?" Harry asked with a soft chuckle.

"Oh…Please…" I moaned as he ran his finger over my folds again. I hated to be the one who was begging and I vowed right there and than that before next Christmas I had him begging.

I felt Harry's hand on my ankle, he slowly lifted my feet and placed it a bit higher up. He repeated the same action with my other leg. Than all the sudden I didn't hear him anymore, I didn't feel any movement around me. I waited for a minute or so wondering where he had gone but when I wasn't able to located him I wondered if I should speak.

I had just about decided that I was going to ask what was going on when I felt his lips brush mine.

"Harry?" I whispered.

No answer came. Again I felt his lips but now on a completely different location.

"Oh, god!" I whimpered as I felt his tongue run over my folds.

It was just one time and then everything became quiet again. I was fully aware that I didn't feel the mattress move and that, that made locating him very difficult. I waited in a very aroused state of excitement for his next move.

Slowly I became aware of something sliding in me, a finger, followed by two more, the feeling of his hand filling me was so intense that I moaned loudly. Like he was playing a piano his fingers moved inside me. His thumb moved through my folds, brushing the inside a few times before settling on my clit.

The movement of his fingers inside me was followed by the rubbing of his thumb over clit, it felt like my whole body was set on fire.

"Oh… uh… Harry…" I softly moaned but with every movement of his hand my moans became louder. The fire was intensifying, it felt uncontainable.

"Harry, I…I'm…almost…. Please Harry."

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"I'm…oh god. I'm going… to…" I panted.

"Tell me."

When I didn't reply with words but with a loud moan Harry picked up his pace, his fingers inside me brushing that very nice spot and his thumb starting to get rougher.

"Tell me, Ginny."

"Please, please, please." I panted. The heat was building and building, I tried to hold on to the edge but I knew I was failing. Harry pulled his fingers back a bit before thrusting them in even more deeply. Pushing me off the edge.

"I'm coming!" I screamed.

"Good girl." Harry whispered in my ear as I felt my muscles clench around his fingers.

Suddenly he pulled away his fingers, I moaned at the loss, my muscles continued to clench and my body continued to spasm as I my orgasm continued to wreak havoc with my body.

Again I didn't felt him move but suddenly I felt his hard cock enter me. In one smooth hard move he filled me completely, he made my muscles stretch when all they wanted to do was clench around something. I screamed at the feeling of contact.

"God, Gin you're tight like this." Harry moaned.

I wrapped a leg around him, making him slide in even more deeply. I felt the blindfold move and suddenly he pulled it off.

"I want to see your eyes. Keep them open."

It was hard to keep my eyes open, the pleasure he was creating was making my body almost incontrollable. My hips move up to meet his and my fingers grabbed hold of the sheets.

Slowly Harry pulled out before slamming back in with a hard motion, my hips clashed with his.

"Oh…" Harry breathed.

I knew I wouldn't last long the second time, I was still partial on my high and already climbing the orgasm mountain again. When Harry started to move in a perfect pace, the tip of his cock brushing that special spot inside me and his hands moved over my breast and his fingers playing with my nipple I was completely lost.

"Uh,uh, Ginny,…so wet…so damn tight…" Harry whispered in my ear. It made me only more insane with desire.

Harry started to pick up his pace when I felt the fire spread again, it took over my muscles, my breathing and my thoughts.

"Oh god, Gin!" Harry moaned.

"Harry!" I screamed as he slammed into me one more time. The feeling of his warm juices being released into me pushed me over the edge and into oblivion.

Went I returned to the present I noticed Harry was watching me. His eyes were bright with a tender love.

"Hey." He breathed.

"Hey, back."

He smiled at me and kissed me softly. After a few seconds he pulled back and watched me again. I waited for a while for him to say something but he just watched, his finger gently brushing my face and arms.

"What are you thinking?" I whispered.

"All sorts of things. Mainly that I love you so much it's insane."

"I know the feeling." I said with a smile. "What else was going through that busy mind of yours?"

"Uhm, while I was watching you I thought that you looked so beautiful. Like an angel."

"Stop Harry, you are making me blush." I chuckled.

"But I'm serious but I don't think can ever forget how you looked with Teddy in your arms."

"What do you mean?"

Harry took a deep breath, like he had to confess something terrible and I started to worry a bit.

"It was just that seeing you with a baby in your arms, it just brought up feelings I didn't knew I could have or even exists."

I looked at him for a while, he looked ashamed of what he just had admitted to me.

"I felt the same when I saw you with Teddy." I whispered.

"Really?"

"Yes, it was such a special sight."

Harry smiled at me but it didn't reach his eyes, there was something he was struggling with, something that needed to come out.

"Just tell me, Harry."

"I…I just… I know we are too young to even think about it but I think when I saw you with Teddy I realized that I would love to have children with you but when I held Teddy it hit me that I had no idea, no example of how to be a father or godfather. It worried me."

"Harry, I understand where those feelings come from, growing up with your aunt and uncle wouldn't have been a very good example and although I loved Sirius I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been a good example either."

Harry chuckled at that.

"But Harry, I'm really convinced that you would be a very good dad, you are so kind and sweet but you are also able to teach them, you have Remus and Dumbledore as an example of how to teach kids, you have already done it with the D.A."

"It's not the same."

"I know it isn't but those are things what made you who you are, a good person and I'm sure that whenever there will be small red-heads with green eyes walking around here you'll be the best dad ever."

"So you do want children?" Harry asked nervously.

"Yes, but not for an other five years or so, I'd rather practice making them." I said with a sly smile. I placed my lips against his and drew him into a passionate kiss.

"I like your idea." He murmured and rolled me on top of him. Our naked bodies touching and the need for each other started to boil again.

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**_I would really like you all to review. but I also like to know if any of you are interested in reading this chapter from Luna's or Hermione's POV. So let me know..._**


	36. Presents

_**Thanks to all who have reviewed, I really love them and you shall not worry I have already written half of the next chapter...incase anyone wonders I intent to write the story until the epilogue in DH...**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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**36. Presents.**

I took in a deep breath and stretched, I loved waking up with the smell of fresh breakfast but I loved waking up with Harry's arms wrapped around me even more. I turned to face him, his eyes were closed but a small smile played on his lips.

"Morning." I whispered.

Harry pulled me closer and kissed me softly.

"Good morning." He mumbled against my lips.

"hmmm, I really love waking up like this." I whispered as I let my lips brush his jaw.

"Me too, just a few months before we can wake up like this every morning."

"Sounds like you had enough of Hogwarts." I murmured,

"I have, I want to live my life, worry free and preferably with you." He said as he pulled me into an other sweet kiss.

I let my hands roam over his chest, my nails scratching his nipples. He moaned softly. Slowly I explored the lower half of his torso, his abs and the small trail of hair that was leading to an area that could cause me great pleasure. When I slid my fingers under his waist band Harry softly whimper.

"Gin." He hissed as he grabbed my hand.

"What's wrong." I asked as I let my finger brush his already hardening cock. Harry let out an other throaty moan.

"Please, stop." He whispered.

"Why?"

"Because within now and five minutes one of your brothers will be banging on the door and screaming for us to hurry up and come down to open presents."

"Ron." I chuckled.

"Or George." Harry sighed.

I knew he was right, judging by the light that was coming from outside it was already late in the morning and my brothers patience was limited.

"We better get dressed than." I groaned and rolled on my back.

Suddenly Harry's face was in front of me, his eyes burning with mischief. He lowered himself over me, every inch of my body was touched my a part of his. I could feel his hard cock pressing against my stomach. His lips captured mine and he pulled my into a deep passionate kiss. I couldn't help but moan against his lips.

Suddenly he laughed and got up.

"You…are…evil." I hissed.

"You started." He smiled.

I laughed loudly when I realized that this could be my life within a few months, going to bed together, waking up together, going to work and coming home to each other, just the normal things. I wasn't counting my mothers opinion in my images of the future. I would throw a very hissy fit if she objected.

I took a quick showed and pulled on some more casual witch robes that I had bought during the summer. It was a perfect dress for Christmas, green with red and gold. When I returned to the bedroom I saw Harry had opted for something more casual as well, a pair of trousers and dark blue shirt, he looked stunning anyway.

"No knocking on the door yet?" I asked as I pulled on my shoes.

"No, and it's after ten already. Either they are eating and lost focus or the wine hit harder than I expected."

When we were both properly dressed we made our way down stairs. Sounds of food being eaten reached our ears and the smell of freshly baked bread made us quicken our step. When we reached the dinning room the table was already filled with our guests.

"Finally." George sighed dramatically.

"Yes, Harry we thought that you would never come downstairs." Ron complained.

"You are having breakfast, what are you complaining about?" Harry said when he held out a chair for me.

"Presents, that damn elf of yours doesn't let us near the tree."

"Of course not, we are doing the presents when everybody is ready." Harry said as he sat down next to me.

"Yeah, the elf told us, we were about to wake you up."

"Why us, I see Charlie and Luna aren't here yet." Harry pointed out.

"Ah, yes, the newest love couple, well they were the first to have breakfast, they are outside strolling around the orchard." George said as he pointed to the window. "Luna needed some fresh are to get rid of some unexplained creature."

"Charlie naturally agreed to accompany her." Ron chuckled.

"It's a Christmas present for me already." I sighed.

"Yes, our little matchmaker." Harry chuckled. "You know, you are more a romantic than you want to admit."

"Am not!" I tried to be serious but I broke down in laughter when I saw everybody disagreeing with me.

"Ginny, you are even more a romantic as I am and you know what books I love to read." Hermione chuckled as she patted my shoulder.

"I'm going to call Charlie and Luna, it's time for presents." Ron said as he got up.

"Ron, be nice." Hermione called after him. An undefined sound came from the hall that made us laugh loudly.

Drooble poured us some coffee and handed Harry the daily prophet. He quickly scanned the front page as he took a sip of his coffee, I watched his reactions to the news carefully. Harry's facial expressions were like a open book to me, every time he narrowed his eyes it told me that he didn't agree with something. Sometimes his eyes would widen in disbelieve, or I would hear him chuckle.

"No Greyback yet?" George asked as he finished his breakfast.

"But they had a sighting of a Death Eater." Harry commented in disbelieve.

"Who?"

"Doesn't say, they only stated that two days ago a person cloaked in black and wearing a silver mask had been seen in Scotland. The witch who had seen them was to scared to react or look at them properly."

"Well at least it's a clue." Hermione shrugged.

"Yes, Arn will have someone check this out." Harry said thoughtful.

"You don't sound very positive about it." I stated.

"Because I'm not. It could have been a Death Eater but he or she was there two days ago, they won't find him now. People need to man up and start reporting these things the moment they happen."

Before any of us could react to his statement Ron came running in.

"Time for presents." He sang and raced towards the large tree in the living room.

"You would think I agreed to marrying a five year old." Hermione grumbled. Her parents laughed like it was some inside joke. I looked at her questionably.

"I'll explain some other time." Hermione whispered.

I took my coffee with me to the living room where the elves had been serving tea and plates of small bites and sweets. Harry and I were the last the enter the living room. It was a very special sight, friends and family all sitting together, chatting, eating and the snow visible through the large window.

Hermione's father walked towards us, looking very seriously.

"Harry, I'm…uhm." He started, "We don't have any presents with us, not even for Hermione, these wasn't any time…"

"Mr. Granger, it's alright. We really don't expect anything else from you other than just to be here for Hermione." Harry said as he placed his hand on Mr. Granger's shoulder.

"Still, I feel like we should do something."

"Nonsense." Harry said firmly. "I know what Hermione has been through the last two years, it hasn't been easy, having her parents back eases a lot of her pain. Just being here is a gift big enough. Besides no one can top Ron's gift."

"About that you are right, I didn't knew she was so in love with him."

"They have been since they were fifteen, they only just found out." I laughed.

Hermione's dad laughed along with us. A few minutes later we were all seated and laughing about Ron and George literally bouncing out of their seat.

"Drooble will hand out the gifts." Harry told them. "Drooble, start with the gifts on the right."

The house-elf nodded and picked up a small square box. He read the label and hurried towards Luna.

"Oh, it's from daddy." She said with a small smile. We watched her unwrap the small gift, her fingers worked the paper patiently. When she opened the box she let out a small gasp.

"That's beautiful." Charlie pointed out as he watched over her shoulder.

"Daddy makes them himself."

Luna picked up what ever was in this box and held it up, it was a necklace with a charm on it. Unlike her other charms this looked professional, it was a beautiful shaped dragon carved out of a red stone.

"That's really beautiful, Luna." I told her as she placed it around her neck.

"Thanks." She smiled.

Drooble picked up a large box and handed it to Ron. The paper was gone with in a second revealing a large box full of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products. The next few presents were for George and Charlie, both from Hermione so they were books. When Drooble brought the next present to me I recognized Ron's handwriting. I looked at the rectangular package with bright colored wrapping.

I carefully removed the paper, inside was a black box with a shop's name on it, the Gobling shop Ron and I went. I carefully opened the box, inside was a velvet lid that covered the actual gift on top of that lay a note.

'_From Ron and Hermione'_

I looked at them both in surprise, they smiled and indicated I should just open the present. I think I actually squealed.

"Do you like it?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Oh my god! I love it."

"Oh thank god, Ron said he would pick out your gift, I just saw it after he bought it." Hermione sighed.

Inside the box was a bracelet, a bracelet I had seen in that Goblin shop, it was beautiful and I had looked at it for a long time before deciding not to by it for myself. It was white gold with Sapphires, a small plate was dangling from it. When I turned it around I saw that it had an inscription on it. It said '_Sister forever'_ , only it wasn't signed with Ron and Hermione's initials it was signed _D.A._

"Oh, it's beautiful." I sighed.

Suddenly Drooble was handing out packages that looked exactly like mine, he was handing them to every member of the D.A. I turned to Harry in surprise.

"You knew?"

"I knew about the bracelet, Ron needed your size and I knew that his idea was great…"

"Harry?" I broke him off.

"Yeah I knew." He sighed. "That's how I found out about the engagement ring but I didn't knew that Ron ordered something for me as well." He said as he held up his gift.

"And neither did I knew that you bought one for the rest of us." Ron mumbled.

It turned out Hermione and Luna both got a white gold bracelet with a plate signed with D.A. both of them had different color stones used in it and Ron, Neville, George and Harry all got a male style white gold ring, like a seal ring, the D.A. initials forming the seal.

"This is awesome." George breathed.

"You know, I can charm these so that they work like the coins, only both ways, that way we can communicate easily." Hermione said with a deep thinking frown on her face.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea." Harry mused, "But later, Drooble get us the next present, please."

Drooble skipped happily to the Christmas tree to pick up a rather large package for Charlie. Inside was a gift from Harry, it was the complete volume of 'Dragons through the ages' by the fabled writer, Jani Kettlestock, a wizard that had studied dragons for all his life and spend the last ten years writing down everything he knew about them.

"Wow, thanks Harry. These are brilliant."

The unwrapping of all the packages under the tree took us the rest of the morning. I loved all my presents, the bracelet, new robes from Luna, a new jumper from mom, books from dad and Charlie, the book from Hermione, joke products from George and sweets. The best present came from Harry, he had bought tickets for me and him to go and see the Harpies play the cup final in February.

"I don't know if they will give you tickets or not but I didn't want to risk you missing it." He had said.

"Well, I better get back to the apartment." George said as he made a move to get up.

"Wait a second." Harry said, holding up his hand. "There is one more present."

"Oh." I heard a few times and I saw everybody looked confused at the empty floor below the Christmas tree.

"Drooble, would you get that envelope from my desk in the study?"

The house-elf nodded and vanished, only to return seconds later with a large official looking envelope. Harry took it from him and opened it, he took out one piece of parchment on which his handwriting was visible.

He quickly read it over and smiled, he took my hand and turned to Hermione.

"Here, Hermione, the last present is for you. And maybe now Ron as well." Harry said with a smile as he handed her the letter. I knew what it said, I was there when he wrote it a while back.

It said,

_Dear Hermione,_

_There isn't a word in the English dictionary that explains properly how grateful I am to have you as a friend, there isn't a way to explain how thankful I am for your wisdom. I have searched long for a way to say thanks for all that you have done for me._

_I couldn't find anything but I would make a start with giving you something that you might need in case your parents won't be back before the end of the school year._

_After discussing this with Ginny and she agrees with all her heart, we decided to give you this: _

_The London house that once belonged to my parents, also Trinkle the house-elf is from this day on yours._

_In the large envelope you'll find the key and the official paper work._

_I, we, hope that you'll find it your home and one day have a happy family there._

_Love, Harry and Ginny._

Hermione read the letter over and over again, each time she started to shake more. Her eyes sometimes flashed towards Harry but he would just sit and wait for her to say something. It was typical Harry, he knew Hermione needed a chance to get her thoughts sorted out.

"Harry…" Came after a good five minutes. "Harry, this is really…too much."

Harry smiled and sat down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"Hermione, it isn't, you have saved my life more than I like to count, if you wouldn't be my friend I would have gotten myself killed long before I could even imagining taken on Voldemort. This is just a small bit I can do to repay you for all that you have done for me."

"But Harry, you are giving me a house! Your parents house! Where you were born."

"And I want you to have it. I have this house in which I know my parents were happy, I have Grimmauld place, where I think I'm going to make a social place for members of the order and the D.A. to meet up, chat and discus troubles, and maybe if I can convince Ginny I'm going to rebuild the old house in Godric's Hollow, so I'll have enough places to stay."

Hermione looked at him for a long time, sometimes she would open her mouth but no sound came out of it. Ron took the letter from her and read it a few times before handing it to Hermione's parents. The room was dead quiet, everybody was waiting for Hermione to just give in.

And she did after a long time.

"There is no use in arguing with you, is there." Hermione whispered against Harry's shoulder.

"No, not really, the only option you have is telling me you like Grimmauld place more, than you can have that house." Harry said laughingly.

"You are absolutely absurd." Hermione sighed.

Everybody laughed as Hermione slumped against Harry, giving in to his absurd present. He held out the large envelope to her waiting for her to take it.

"You are absolutely serious?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, Hermione." Harry sighed.

"Gin?" Hermione asked as she turned to me. I sighed and got up. I kneeled down next to her and rested my hands on her knees.

"Hermione, yes, we are sure, we have discussed this many times, I really want to live here and Harry wants a house in Godric's Hollow and there is absolutely no reason why we would have four houses. Besides I owe you big time for keeping Harry save and sane."

Slowly, a smile formed around her lips, first hesitant but slowly it got brighter than the sun outside.

"You are giving me a house!" she squealed.

"And an elf, a very cute one I must say." Harry joked.

"Oh Harry, and they said George is nuts." Hermione laughed and flung her arms around his neck and pulled him in a tight hug.

"Hey!" George yelled but everybody ignored him.

For the rest of the morning and lunch Hermione's gift from Harry was the topic of discussion. Hermione's parents wanted to know everything about the house, how Harry got it, how it looked, where it was and all the things parents wanted to know.

"That boyfriend of yours is a bit crazy I have to say." Charlie said.

"I know, it was all his idea." I sighed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, when he found out about the houses we went to look at them. I think he decided at that moment that he wanted to give Hermione one of them. I know his idea was that if they weren't able to find her parents she would be homeless, he didn't want that to happen. We only discussed which house it would be."

"I can understand that you want to keep this place. It's amazing."

"Yeah, we came here in the summer, it was so beautiful with all the fresh green and roses. Very peaceful."

"Yes, it is." Charlie nodded. "Well I have to go, I promised Bill to spend the afternoon with him while Fleur is out with her parents and sister."

"Didn't Bill have to go with them?" I asked.

"No, Fleur was angry but her sister and mother have arranged a surprise baby shower with all her school friends and family. So Bill wasn't even aloud to come."

"Why wasn't I invited?"

"Because your mum is arranging her own party, she discussed it with Fleur's mother. Fleur is too tired to deal with everybody all at once, so your mum is arranging a girls day at the spa during the easter holidays." Hermione explained.

"How come everybody knows this except me?"

"Because you were too focused on sneaking away to Harry these last few days." Charlie said.

I glared at him.

"Hey, that's what mum says."

Charlie said goodbye just before one o'clock which reminded Luna and me that we would be going to St. Mungo's.

"Where will you be later this afternoon?" I asked Harry as I pulled on my jacket.

"Don't know yet, if I'm not here than I think I will be at the London house. I think Ron, Hermione and her parents want to see it. I'll take them there."

"Okay, than I'll come by here first." I promised.

"So, Luna, tell me everything." I said as I shut the door behind me. Luna laughed loudly.

"I knew you would ask that."

"Of course, my D.A. sister and my brother. Hot gossip!" I laughed.

"It isn't really like that." Luna sighed.

"Yeah, right, I saw you two kissing under the mistletoe last night."

"We did but I think Charlie thinks I'm too young for him. Which I am."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" I asked as I opened the gate.

"Well, it's just when he talks he sounds so grown up, like he has already seen everything. It's intimidating, it makes me feel like the young girl I am. He could never ever want to be with somebody so young."

"That's ridiculous." I said as I shook my head.

"Why would that be ridiculous?" Luna challenged.

"First off, I know my brother, Charlie has always been my support, he was the one who would listen to my complaints and support me, so you can say that I know him very well, that's why I also knew the moment you two met at my sick bed he liked you a lot. I saw it in his eyes. Second, Charlie doesn't kiss girls just for fun, all these years he had only one or two serious dates, who he kissed."

"How do you know that?" Luna chuckled.

"Last year, with Christmas Charlie was home and we got into a very personal talk, I was so depressed with Harry leaving me that he tried to cheer me up, but the talk got very personal, about his life and dates. That's why I know."

"So you are saying that it meant something more than just a kiss."

"Yes. Charlie wouldn't kiss a girl if he didn't really liked her."

Luna's face lit up and a smile spread across her face.

"He has asked if it was alright if he visited this week." She said.

"That's great, you won't be alone all the time."

Luna nodded, "yes, that would be nice. Shall we go?"

I agreed and soon we were walking into the wizarding hospital. Luna's dad was in the same long term residence as Neville's parents but at an other side, the ones for which they still had hope of a full recovery. He had a private room which was decorated with paintings Luna had made and pictures of possible new animal species send to him by his readers.

I was happy to see how well Luna's dad was doing, the damage that was done to him wasn't mentally but physically. The healer explained that due to a strange curse Mr. Lovegood wasn't able to recover quickly. Like his whole body worked slower. The last few weeks they had seen a lot of progress, mainly due to light therapy, that was why they suggested a transfer to a magical hospital in the southern part of America or the Caribbean, somewhere where the sun shone a lot.

Mr. Lovegood, was his happy and dreamy self, already talking about all the possibilities he would have for doing some research in a foreign country. I could see it made Luna happy to see her dad so exciting about his upcoming trip.

"I know I will leave you alone for a long time but you are a strong woman, my Luna, you'll be able to hold your own." Her father smiled to her when he saw her sad eyes. "Besides you have great friends who will be there for you and I'm sure that lovely young man you have been writing about, what's his name?"

Her dad turned to a large stack of letters and ruffled through them.

"Ah, yes here it is. Charlie, that's his name, I'm sure that if he is a smart he'll see what a catch you are and keep you company."

"Charlie is smart, Mr. Lovegood, he has already seen how great Luna is." I said to him.

"Really? Do you know him?"

"Yes, he is my brother." I smiled. This seemed to bring on a whole new row of questions, mostly directed to Luna but it was clear that her dad completely agreed with her choice of men. I was relieved to see that Luna wasn't embarrassed by me spilling on the identity of her new boyfriend.

The whole visit was rather pleasant and I really believed that Luna was relieved that everything was going so well.

"Thanks Ginny." She said as we walked out of the hospital.

"What for?"

"For a very special Christmas and for coming with me to visit dad. I really was scared of what I would find."

"Coming with you here and you thank me for that I can understand but what did you mean with a very special Christmas?"

"Well, I got to see Ron getting on one knee for Hermione, I got the most amazing Christmas dinner and my friend invited me so she could set me up with her incredible brother. So all in all a very special Christmas." She smiled.

I laughed loudly, I should have known that Luna would see through me, her way of seeing the world would have all secrets on the table.

"How long did you knew?" I asked.

"When you got a bit too eager with asking me." Luna laughed. "You wanted me to come to the dinner so much that I figured something was behind it. I wrote Charlie about it and he said that it would be so you to try and set us up."

"See, I was right about you and Charlie writing each other. How romantic." I squealed.

"No, not really. Normally we write about dragons and other magical creatures, only rarely we discus more romantic things."

"Yes well, that is going to chance I'm sure." I laughed.

Arm in arm we walked towards the leaky cauldron for a drink and a long girl talk. It was already getting dark when Luna and I waved goodbye. I focused on the Summer house and apparated home. Yeah, I guess I really felt like it was my home.

The lights were already on when I walked up the path, I could hear Harry's voice coming through the windows. He sounded panicky. I quickened my step wondering and worrying what was wrong.

I reached the door and saw it was open, I slid inside and heard Harry talking rather rapidly.

"Harry!" I called.

"Gin!" came from the living room.

"Yeah! I'm back."

The living room door flew open and a rather harassed looking Harry walked into the hallway.

"Where the fuck have you been!" he yelled at me. I was so shocked by the anger in his voice that I stiffened and took a step back. I could feel all the blood leaving my head.

"What?" I stammered.

"Where! Have! You! Been!" he yelled. His eyes were flaming with anger and I just couldn't pull together why he was so angry.

"The leaky Cauldron, with Luna." I rushed out.

A slight ripple of confusion ran over his face before the anger flared again.

"The leaky Cauldron? With Luna? Until this late?" he yelled again.

This time my temper started to flare up, the initial shock and confusion tempered with it but after taking a few breaths I felt the anger brew in my stomach. He had no right to be yelling at me like that.

"Yes. I was at the Cauldron with Luna." I hissed. "So, there is no reason for you to behave like this."

"No reason?" Harry yelled, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Dammit Ginny! I have every reason to behave like this. Why the fuck are you back so damn late!"

"So damn late! So damn late?" I screamed back. "Fuck off, Harry, it's not even dinner time, it only just got dark!"

He really got me angry now, my mind was making up all different kind of reasons why he could be angry, most of them got stuck on the idea that he was jealous and was thinking I had met up with some other guy. Even the thought of that made me so angry that I could have cursed the whole house down. Instinctively I grabbed my wand but I was still sane enough to not point it at Harry, deep down I knew he would react on his instincts as well and I would be in big trouble.

I watched as Harry stopped in his tracks, he looked confused and he was mumbling something which I quite couldn't catch.

"If you have something to say you better do it loud enough for me to hear!" I yelled at him.

He looked up at me, I saw the pain in his eyes, it was enough to back down but when he didn't answer I got angry again.

"Fuck Harry! If you can't even tell why you are yelling at me…"

"Ginerva." He started weakly.

"Ginerva? Dammit!"

I knew I shouldn't get angry with him at that moment but using my nickname like this, a name he only was ever allowed to use in moments of bliss, urgh it made me just hiss with anger.

I turned around and walked up the stairs, fully intent on grabbing my bag and walk out, he needed time to get his head straight.

I slammed the door behind me, satisfied that it made a really loud bang. Just not loud enough to shatter anything. As soon as the door was shut my anger drained away and I crashed down on the bed. I whimpered slightly as I thought about his reasons to be angry, didn't he really trust me?

Suddenly there was a soft knock on the door.

"Ginny?"

I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear his explanation just yet, if he didn't trust me it would be so damn painful.

"Ginny? Can I please come in?"

I sighed and got up and opened the door slowly, my wand was still tightly wrapped in my hand. Harry looked rather miserable when he stepped into the room.

I wavered for a second but kept my wand pointed at him, the reminder of what I was able to do with a mere stick if wood was enough to keep my temper from rising, or at least that was what I hoped for.

Harry raised his hands in surrender.

"Ginny, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

He looked at me like he was waiting for a reaction but honestly I didn't knew what to say.

"Why?" I asked in a soft whisper. I let myself sank back down on the bed, lowering my wand and hang my head. Now it was me waiting for the blow.

"I…I fell asleep." Harry said as he sat down next to me. My head snapped his way, these weren't the words I expected.

"What in the world does that has anything to do with you yelling at me for no reason."

"Everything actually and the fact that I've been stupid." Harry said darkly. "I fell asleep after I got back from showing the house in London to Ron, Hermione and her parents. They decided to go out for dinner to have a bit of family time and get to know Ron a bit better. I declined the invitation I wanted to have dinner with you. I lay down on the sofa reading while waiting for you, I fell asleep."

"That still doesn't explain anything." I said as he fell silent.

Harry looked at me with a wry smile.

"When I woke up it was already dark and you weren't home yet. I panicked." He sighed.

"Panicked? About what?"

"I didn't even look at what the actual time was. In my mind it was already very late, I was already ordering Kreacher around to look for you when you walked in. you were just smiling like there was nothing to worry about, it send me into a rage, I was so worried about you."

"Worried about what?"

"About you getting hurt! In my worried rage you should have been home for a long time already and you weren't, I don't even what I thought, images of you being tortured, murdered or raped by Death Eaters flashed through my mind. When you said that it wasn't even dinner time I glanced at the clock and I realized how wrong I was to yell at you. I realized my mistake."

I understood what he was saying but I found that I also saw a bit of the deep meaning behind his sudden panic, what he had gone through just before I got home. I realized that the horrors he had been through and had seen or heard during the war were still very close to the surface and even the smallest thing could set off the fear and pain. These were the moment when it became clear of how much the war had effected him, it became clear of how much fear he was still dealing with. Normally he didn't show it, he worked hard, he would sometimes talk about the war but most of it was still buried deep.

"Oh, Harry." I sighed and wrapped my arms around him.

"I'm really sorry, Ginny."

"I know, I should have realized you would be scared and not reacted like that."

Harry snorted at that.

"You acted like any one who knows you would have expected, better even, you didn't hex me, me on the other hand was yelling at you for no reason just because I was stupid enough not to check the time first."

"Did you call Kreacher back?"

"He wasn't even gone yet." Harry sighed. "I was awake only for a few minutes and I checked the house first, asking Drooble if he had seen you. God, how stupid can I be."

"Harry, I honestly don't think it's stupid."

"You don't?" He asked shocked.

"No, I was angry and confused but now I realize what it was. You were just panicking, scared and worried but I shouldn't have expected anything else. The war is still so fresh under your skin, everything you had to deal with during those days, even the last years is still very fresh. We can have dinners, parties, great sex and cute loving moment but we still have to deal with the things we rather not face. I still panic when you leave to hunt down Greyback or Death Eaters just because I'm afraid you would leave me again, I know what you just went through Harry, I'm still dealing with it as well."

Harry looked at me, his mouth hung open a bit. It would have made me chuckle but his sad eyes stopped me.

"I didn't knew." He whispered.

"What?"

"That you were still so scared, about me leaving."

"Sometimes but not as much as I was in the beginning. I was ready to jinx you so you would stay where you were." I chuckled.

"I feel like that as well, sometimes." Harry admitted softly.

"How so?"

"Well, whenever I go with Arn and the other aurors I always fear that I wouldn't be able to go home, that the mission would take longer. You would be waiting for me without knowing. That's the reason why I'm so happy with the suggestion Hermione made with the D.A. jewelery. That way we can always contact each other."

I nodded, it would indeed be a good idea.

"Still Harry, you need to start talking about things, you can't work through it alone."

"I know, Ginny, I know, I just don't know what I feel, or at least I can't put a name on it."

"Could you try? Maybe we can work it out together."

Harry looked down at were our hands met, he played with my fingers for a while and brushed over my bracelet. I felt him take him a few deep breaths.

"I just feel so weird all the time, I think I had hoped that when I killed him I would feel relieved, happy and cheery all the times, and sometimes I do feel like that but…I just feel so not me most of the time."

"What use to feel like being you?"

"I really don't know that either. That's why it is just so confusing. For eleven years I felt like I wasn't welcome, that I wasn't loved. Than Hagrid told me I was famous for something I couldn't even claim, it was all my mother. Since then I never had any rest, always running on something exciting, I remember Hermione wishing for a calm and normal year after our fourth year. It has been a constant rush. Remember those months when I finally saw the light?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yes, those were amazing."

"Like I said, out of someone else's life but not mine. My life has been non-existence and than crazy, hectic and scary. With you I had peace, like we lived in a different world. Than I went back to that rush, for a whole year the rush was greater than ever when all I wanted was to gain that peace back."

"Do you have it back now?"

"Yes, I have but now there is a whole new set of feelings that is running through me. Feelings I think had been suppressed by the horcrux in me. I love you more than I could have imagined, I need the peace you bring more than anything but I still feel like I'm waiting for the panic and hectic to return. Like I felt tonight and I blamed it on you because I need you for the peace. The constant fear of loosing the peace and the whole new range of feelings that run uncontrolled through me in ways I don't understand scares the shit out of me."

"If these feelings were released by the dead of the horcrux you'll learn to live with them soon because they have always been a part of you." I pointed out.

"I hope so."

"What kind of feelings are they?"

"Besides a even greater feeling of love for you, I mean it almost reaches a sick obsession, I feel strangely needy for something, the peace is one part of it but also the need for something more, something I couldn't put my finger on until I saw you with Teddy in your arms."

"You want a family of your own?" I whispered.

"Yes, I think so, I always enjoyed the feeling of being a part of a family, like yours but the idea of our own little family I realized yesterday that, that was a need inside me."

"I would love to give you that, Harry, just not now, not so soon after school."

"I know, you first go and conquer the world with your amazing Quidditch." He smiled.

"What other feelings scare you so much."

"Sometimes I feel really angry, like today, it just flares up and I can't really control it. When I'm around you I can but I think that has something to do with you being even more angry and feisty. Your anger makes mine look feeble, but when you are not with me, like when I'm out with Arn and the aurors and a Death Eater or werewolf gets through me and makes me angry…Arn had to stun me once to make sure the werewolf lived long enough to be questioned."

I gasped in shock, I would have never thought Harry could act like that.

"I know, it's sounds terrible right."

"A little but where does that anger come from?"

"I'm not sure but I think it has to do with jealousy."

"What?"

"The one thing that provokes me is any negative thing about you, somebody making a bad comment or a guy talking about you inappropriate or looking at you. That's what set me off. Trust me Ginny, I'm not a jealous guy, or at least I wasn't. When I got back here last week I found a stack with letters from a friend to my mother, she writes about how jealous James could be when it came to my mom. I think that the suppressed feelings where the passionate parts of my mom and dad. Did you know sometimes I feel like a good prank would be nice, right in the middle of an important class."

He laughed softly as I looked at him like he had gone crazy.

"I thought you were jealous, that you thought I would have been spending my time with someone else." I whispered.

"That's just silly." He laughed. "I know you are damn pretty and I know that there are many more guys who want a part of you but I trust you. Completely. I just need to learn to control me emotions better and tonight I wasn't jealous, I was just having a panic attack and from what I read in those letters it was very common for my dad to have when it came to my mother and the other way around as well."

"You have to show me the letters some day."

"I will." Harry promised. Slowly he leaned forward to kiss me. "Am I forgiven?" He asked.

"You already were." I said and sealed it with a soft sweet kiss.

Suddenly Harry got up and held his hand out to me.

"Come on, Drooble has dinner ready. Lets have a nice peaceful dinner. Just the two of us."

I smiled and got up, following him towards the dinner table while telling him about my visit to St. Mungo's.

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**_Please don't forget to review..._**

**_Any other POV's you can find in the outtake, story, see my account, I will update that one once I have finished two other POV's chapters..._**


	37. Holyhead Harpies

_**I'm sorry it took me a bit longer than normal to update, I had a few other ideas and bits that I wanted to write down before they left my head, like a small part for the next chapter and Harry's proposal. although it will take a while for that the right idea popped in my head and I had to write it down... but anyways... a chapter on Ginny's career choice...**_

_**before you all start off to read... Thanks for all the reviews... I love them and I will take them in consideration...(thanks for reporting mistakes I made, I learn from them hopefully)...**_

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**37. the Holyhead Harpies.**

I was literally bouncing in excitement, broom in one hand and a backpack in the other I was standing at the door waiting for Harry to finally come downstairs. This was going to be the best two days of my life, a trainingscamp with the Holyhead Harpies. Gwen's invitation had arrived two days after Christmas and it was a welcome distraction to everybody as we all were living under my mother's wrath.

She had been so unbelievable angry with us for not telling her about Fred, so much so that Hermione and I had to cook for two days, she just refused. The letter pulled her out of her anger and her pride with her only daughter overtook any lingering emotions.

Gwen's invitation told me the time and the location and she informed me that I was allowed to bring Harry along. He wasn't as excited as me but it meant that he could play Quidditch for two days, it was something that I knew he missed doing.

"Harry! Come on!"

"Yes, yes, I'm ready." He yelled as he ran down the stairs. His broom over his shoulder and a huge grin on his face he skidded to a halt in front of me. "Lets go." He breathed.

I smiled and said goodbye to my mom.

"If anything happens you come home immediately." She said sternly.

"Yes, mom, I'm with Harry, nothing can happen." I sighed as I kissed her cheek.

"Harry, take care of her." I heard my mom say.

"I will, Molly. See you in two days."

Harry quickly followed me out as we ran to the apparating spot.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yep."

I focused on the location and turned on the spot, I faintly heard the crack that accompanied Harry's apparition. I kept my eyes closed until my feet hit solid ground again, I honestly can't say I enjoy apparating. It made me feel light headed and sick but still is was the fastest way of transport.

"Wow, nice trainings facilities." Harry breathed next to me.

"Wow, is a bit of an understatement."

In front of us was a large Quidditch pitch behind it was a few buildings, a few smaller pitches were located to the side of the main complex, all looked brand new.

"Ginny Weasley, it's good to see you." I heard behind me. I turned to see Gwenog walking towards me.

"Hello Gwen." I said as I shook her hand. "This is my man but I don't think I need to introduce him."

"No, that's not necessary." Gwen chuckled. "Hello, Harry, it's so good to finally meet you. A great honor."

"Nah, the honor is all mine." Harry laughed as he shook her hand. "Thanks for inviting me."

"Of course, I heard you are a great seeker, I could use your help with the practice sessions, it's too bad your not a girl because I would have signed you right here on the spot. If the rumors are true." She laughed.

"Gwen, you of all people should know that rumors are almost never true."

"Yeah, yeah, but still it would be great to have you flying with us today."

"I would love to help out." Harry said with a smile.

"Good, Ginny are you ready for two days of brutal training and awesome flying?"

"Of course."

She led the way towards the encampment. Around a small field around fifty tents were erected.

"Normally you would stay in a hotel but because we are still rebuilding that you have to do with tents." Gwen explained.

"That's alright, we brought a very comfortable tent." I said as I waved my backpack.

"That's the spirit. Now you have about half an hour to get settled in and change. At eleven everybody is to report on the Quidditch pitch to do a standard drill of selecting. You don't have to participate in that but I want to introduce you to the rest of the team and be there to watch. After that we all do some flying."

"Okay." I nodded. Gwen just turned away to the changing rooms when I thought of something. "Oh, Gwen?"

"Yes."

"Did you invite Colleen to this camp as well?"

"Yes, her tent is over there, the blue one."

"Thanks."

Harry and I made our way towards the blue tent close to the entrance of the Quidditch pitch.

"Colleen!" I called.

"Ginny?" A voice came from with in the tent.

"Yes, it's me."

I heard feet stumbling and a few well placed swearwords coming from the tent before Colleen fell out.

"Oh, Ginny, you finally got here!"

A strong pair of arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a hug.

"Isn't it exciting! Jones invited me to try-out today!" Colleen squealed.

"Easy, Colleen, how long have you been here?"

"Since yesterday morning. Early morning that is, yesterday they had a trainings day with all the possible new members. Only a group of twenty people are left for further selection."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Gwen said that I was still to young to make it on the team this year but she wants me to join the selections anyway. I think she is hoping to convince Elly to stay until I'm old enough."

"That's brilliant." I grinned at her.

"Are you going to stay next to me?"

"Yes, if that's okay." Harry said as he pulled the tent out of my bag.

"Sure." Colleen nodded. "I have to change, try-out start in fifteen minutes."

I nodded and turned to help Harry with the tent. Once we were ready we both changed into our Gryffindor colored Quidditch training gear and walked with Colleen to the pitch.

The pitch was already filled with a large group of hopefuls. When they spotted Harry a loud round of whispers ran through the fields.

"Should have expected that." Harry groaned.

"It will be alright." But I hadn't even finished my last word when a large group of reporters came rushing towards us.

"Urgh." Harry sighed. "Does this never stop?"

"I don't think so." I whispered. "Come on we just have to face it."

"Gwen will save you." Colleen smiled as she pointed towards a very angry looking team captain.

We walked on through the group of reporters, they were all shouting questions at Harry. Most of them were about Greyback and the Death Eaters that were still on the run but sometimes they were very rude and asked personal questions. One that bothered me the most was the question about Ron and Hermione and if it was true that they got engaged. That were personal question Ron and Hermoine had to decide for themselves if they wanted to make it publically known.

"Okay, that's enough!" Gwen shouted, her voice booming through the grounds, "Harry is here to help out with the training and to support his girl. If you want to ask him questions you have to contact the ministry and see if you can arrange an interview. Now, off my pitch."

"Thanks Gwen." Harry breathed.

"Any time, although the press might be a problem with you Ginny."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, as a team we are doing interviews regularly. You'll have to start thinking about dogging personal questions and I think a media training would be very helpful once you are on the team."

"Gwen, you talk like I'm already on it." I chuckled.

"In my mind you are, you just have to fit in with the rest of the team." She laughed and led us to the team.

The team looked impressive, the girls were all lean and athletic. I felt like a little girl compared to them, if it wasn't for the fact that I was raised with Fred and George in one house I might turned around and ran but I knew I had reason to feel confident.

"Alright team, listen up, this is Ginny Weasley, she is the Gryffindor I told you all about and our potential new chaser."

Everybody looked at me, I blushed a little bit, I was probably star struck but non of them looked at me like I was dirt or a deranged fan.

"Ginny, these are the Holyhead Harpies." Gwen said with a proud smile. Quickly she took me around the team to introduce me while she send Harry towards the men who were sitting a bit away.

"Husbands and boyfriends." Gwen muttered to me.

The introduction was short and the long day of selecting and training started. The sat down and watched as Gwen conducted the twenty hopefuls around the pitch.

"You don't look really happy." The woman next to me said. It was Elly, the first keeper of the team.

"I am, it's just that I feel I should be flying there." I said.

"Ah, you feel like you should be a part of the selection, not one of the team yet?"

"Something like that, my brother's girlfriend has been trying out for teams all summer and I have to fly one match…"

"Listen, if Gwen doesn't let you participate in the selections means that she has already seen enough of you to be sure you are good enough. To be honest she has been rambling about your skills for quite a while now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she has been telling the chasers that you were coming and that they had to pick up their pace if they wanted to keep up with you."

"I didn't knew she was that impressed."

"You learn about that fast enough." She laughed.

After an hour Gwen came back to the team and gave instructions. She had divided all the players and hopefuls up in teams and had us play small matches, just who reached the fifty points first or catch the snitch.

Harry wasn't on my team so I could watch him fly again. The look on his face was so peaceful when he flew, like nothing could bother him. I realized that I enjoyed seeing him so peaceful and I prayed that he would find that peace in anything he would do in his life.

"Damn." I heard someone swear besides me. I turned to see Gwen sitting next to me. "Too bad he's a man." She said as she glanced at Harry. I had to laugh at her expression, it was somewhere between awe and annoyance.

"I'm actually quite happy he's a man."

"I bet you do." Gwen laughed.

It was amazing to fly with such a good Quidditch players, I learned so much from just playing one short match. Short because between me and Julliene, one of the harpies chasers we made it to the fifty points rather quickly. Julliene learn me a lot although I doubt she noticed it. Her pace of passing the ball and changing speed was lightning fast, it took me some practice to adept to that.

"Wow, you really are a good flyer." Julliene said as she landed next to me.

"Thanks but you are much better, I had to really focus to adept to your speed." I said as I hang my head.

"Hey, you did great for your first time with a professional team, at the end of the weekend you'll be able to do everything we do." Julliene said as she patted me on the shoulder. I smiled up at her, her eyes held nothing but honesty.

That afternoon I flew three more matches, every time with an other team member, every time learning something new. From looking differently at tactics to changing the speed of your broom in a second. Also, I never thought I would learn so much from watching others play.

Tactics were displayed by the Harpies flyers like I had never seen them before. I tried to remember them all, to learn from and to use at school during the training sessions with the Gryffindor team.

The last match was Harry's team against Gwen's team. Gwen had given Harry the captainship over his team, so it was really a battle between them. Both had a spark in their eyes that told me it was going to be very enjoyable.

"Gwen is going to slaughter Harry." Colleen said as she sat down next to me.

"I don't know. Harry has been watching her matches, if he has learned half of what I have Gwen will get have trouble."

"I didn't knew Harry Potter was such a good flyer." Julliene said as she watch my man fly.

"Apparently he inherited it." I commented as I saw him dive.

"Has he seen the snitch already?" Colleen asked as Harry plummeted faster and faster to the ground. I looked at the spot he was looking but I didn't see the small golden ball.

"No, I think he's trying to get on Gwen's nerves." I chuckled.

It worked though, Gwen was shouting orders at her team and trying to beat his team to the fifty points. She was getting more aggressive.

"Is Gwen always shouting like that?" I asked Julliene.

"Only when she really, really wants to win."

"So every match."

"Something like that." Julliene laughed.

Suddenly the whole stand gasped. Gwen's main chaser was racing towards the posts to score the final goal when Harry was suddenly flat on his broom. In blinding speed he raced towards the other end of the pitch.

"I know that look, he has seen the snitch." I muttered.

Because it was the last goal her team needed Gwen was focused on keeping her chaser save and didn't notice Harry. When the sounds of the score sounded through the pitch Gwen celebrated, that was until Harry called out to her.

"Gwen!" I heard him yell.

"You lose, Potter."

"We need a judge to decided that." Harry yelled as he held up the snitch.

"How long…" Gwen yelled back amazed.

"The moment your team scored." Harry smiled as he handed her the snitch.

Gwen broke down in a fit of laughter as she landed on the pitch. It took her a while to regain some composure but when she finally did the whole team was giggling, her laugh was just infectious.

"Ginny, I would have you on the team just to have him join us on these weekends." She said as she sat down in front of me, still holding her stomach.

"Oh, that's nice. What about my flying skills." I mocked her.

"Yes, yes that too."

After fifteen minutes of relaxing and talking Gwen stood up and called all those who were trying out together.

"Alright, tonight we will have an evening of fun in the club house. You all can have a drink or two but remember that tomorrow we are going to do a standard drill. Some practice rounds I usually put the team through shortly before a match, so you need to be fit when you wake up. Dinner is ready in an hour." With that she dismissed everybody.

We made our way to the tent with Colleen, when I remembered her troubles from before Christmas.

"How was Christmas, Colleen?"

"Good." She said happily. "Mom and I spend it with her family. They got me some brilliant gifts, all Quidditch related."

"Good, did you hear something from your father, again?" I asked.

Her face fell a bit and I knew the answer.

"He keeps harassing me." she sighed, than something flittered over her face. "Hey, Harry?"

"Yes."

"You work at the ministry regularly, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"Has Ginny told you about my dad writing me while I don't want it?"

"I told Harry a bit of it." I admitted.

"Do you think I should report it? I mean, he isn't really doing anything wrong but it bugs me to no end and I told him a dozen times that I don't want anything to do with him."

Harry looked at her for a while, I could see the hesitation behind his eyes.

"You know what, Colleen. I'll have a look at it for you when I get back at the ministry next week. I will see if there is something we can do about it, alright?"

"Oh, Harry, would you do that?" Colleen said with a smile.

"Of course."

"That would be really great."

Harry and I went into our tent after promising Colleen to pick her up before dinner. Harry crashed down in one of the chairs.

"I feel terribly out of shape." He groaned.

"You are getting old." I giggled.

"I'm not old." He growled as he pulled me in his lap. He pulled my face to him and kissed me sweetly. "You flew brilliantly today." He whispered against my lips.

"I learned so much already, I didn't knew you could learn so much from just watching others fly."

"I know Gwen is a great flyer as well, I enjoyed teasing her into frustration."

"I bet she'll find away to get you back for that." I chuckled. Harry nodded with a determined smile. I had the strange feeling that he and Gwen would be getting along really well, just having fun annoying each other.

"You don't mind? Do you?" He suddenly asked.

"What?"

"My interaction with Gwen?"

"That? No, I don't mind, as long as she doesn't find a way to turn you into a girl." I chuckled.

"So you are not feeling jealous when I do that?" he blushed when he asked that.

"No, do I have a reason to feel jealous?"

"No, of course not." He said shocked. "it's just I have seen Ron getting jealous whenever Hermione is joking around with an other guy, it causes a lot of troubles between them, I don't wan that between us."

"You of all should know I'm nothing like Ron. Besides as long as you don't give my any reasons to do otherwise, I trust you."

"Good." Harry smiled. "I'm going to take a quick shower so that you can have time to get ready."

"I can join you, that way we both have more time to get ready."

"As much as I like that idea, we only have an hour, with you naked in a shower next to me we won't be at the dinner table at all." he said as his eyes flashed in mischief.

"Alright." I sighed, pretending to be disappointed.

"I'll make it up to you when we get back tonight." He said before kissing me insane.

While Harry showered I selected to wear some simple, comfortable but beautiful robes, since Christmas I had been discovering that witches robes could be just as comfortable as simple jeans and t-shirt, and Harry enjoyed looking at me in robes a lot.

After I showered and got dressed I pulled my hair into a casual ponytail. When I returned to the main part of the tent we had a bit more than fifteen minutes left. I went looking for Harry and found him sitting on the king size bed, he looked lost in his thoughts.

"What's going on in your mind?" I asked as I sat down next to him.

"Oh, what?" He asked as my words reached him.

"What were you thinking?"

"About Colleen. I have already been to the prison ward at the ministry to make sure her father can't write those letters. He just can't. I was thinking about who is writing her."

"Her uncle." I suggested.

"Yes, that's my feeling as well and I can even think of a motive for wanting to contact her. What I am worried about is that Death Eaters aren't exactly patient, he would do something rash if she doesn't reply soon."

"Like what? She will be at Hogwarts in a few days."

"I don't know yet and honestly I don't want to imagine the possibilities. They just aren't used to be told 'no'." Harry sighed.

I nodded and glanced in the direction of Colleen's tent.

"Do you think we should talk to her about it?" I asked.  
"I don't know, Gin. It would be good so she can get her defenses up but on the other, I just don't want to her to worry about it too much."

"Isn't it better for her to know?" I asked him. It wasn't that I wanted her to worry or anything, I just wanted to be sure she was on her guard. Specially when she wasn't at Hogwarts.

"I leave that up to you, you are her friend and team captain. If you think it's better that she knows I'll help you explain things to her." Harry said with a sweet smile.

I nodded. "I'll think about it tomorrow. Lets have some dinner."

We walked out and Colleen was already pacing in front of her tent.

"Finally." She sighed.

I chuckled at her impatience.

"Hungry?" I asked as we made our way to the club house.

"Yep. The food is really good here." Colleen said happily. She walked a bit in front of us, smiling happily and talking non-stop. I looked at Harry to see if he was laughing at her as well but he looked tense. His free hand was in his pocket, probably wrapped around his wand.

I squeezed his hand to draw his attention and looked up questionably. I think he understood immediately and smiled weakly.

"It's so open and unprotected here and with her around…" he whispered. I nodded to show that I understood what he meant.

While Harry continued to be tense and scanning the fields around him I talked to Colleen to distract her from Harry's behavior.

I let out a sigh of relieve when we made it to the club house, somehow Harry's tense behavior had found its way to me and I realized I had gotten ready to battle as well. I flexed my fingers as I released my wand.

"Habit." He sighed as he took my hand.

"Yeah."

Loud songs and chatter was already echoing through the building, To my surprise it wasn't a sit down dinner but buffet style, which made it so much more pleasant, you could just walk around and chat while eating and drinking. A small group of house elves served wine, butterbeer and pumpkin juice.

When Gwen spotted us she waved us to come and join her.

"Ginny, Harry, I like you to meet the owner of the Holyhead Harpies. The person who pays us. This is Sequana Throttlewen, she and her husband have owned this club for about seventy years now."

We shook hands with a friendly looking old witch.

"It's nice to meet you Ginerva Weasley, I have heard a lot about you. Gwen won't stop talking about your potential. And you Mr. Harry Potter. It's an honor to meet you and thank you for all that you have done to our world." The old woman croaked.

"I would love to say that it was nothing but I'm not going to get away with that anymore, am I." Harry casually joked as he shook her hand.

"No." she said with a laugh. "There is no need to be modest."

She and Harry chatted for a while about the new wizarding world we were building but I lost interest in the discussion quickly. I turned around to look for Julliene or Colleen. I saw that Colleen was in a hefty discussion with Elly, by her movements I guessed that she was talking about Quidditch. With a sigh I wondered if she ever stopped talking about Quidditch.

"Ginny!" I heard somebody call. I turned to see Julliene waving at me from one of the sofa's. "Come join us."

I smiled and walked over, she was sitting with Irial the team's second seeker, a young girl, very tiny with elfish features.

"Ginny, Irial and I were talking about Harry and you."

"Gossiping, huh?"

"No, not really, we were interested in how you two got together?" Irial chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to them, took a deep breath and glanced at Harry. Luckily he was still in a deep discussion with the old witch.

"Are you really sure you want to know that?"

"Yeah, I would like a few pointers on how to get myself a hero." Irial laughed.

"I can't give you that, Harry and I were together before the he left school, before he became the big hero he apparently is now."

"Really?" Julliene asked.

"Yep, Harry is the best friend of my youngest brother and has been visiting us every summer since I was eleven. I was a bit star-struck at that time."

"I can imagine that." Irial sighed.

"If it wasn't for Hermione we would have never gotten together, I was too shy to even talk but she told me to live and ignore him for a while, he would notice me once I showed who I truly was. During his sixth year he finally started to notice me. We got together but he rather quickly broke it off, just to keep me safe. After the war it took just one look, that was enough."

I just realized how much my life sounded like a fairytale, it made me smile widely.

"Wow, that's so romantic." Julliene sighed. "Jason and I met at school during our last year, he was a transfer from a smaller school in the US, I was asked by the head girl to show him around, I think it's save to say that sparks flew from the moment we shook hands."

"Urgh, I want a love life." Irial groaned and took a swing of her wine.

"Don't mind her, Ginny, she is always complaining about her love life." Julliene chuckled.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because she gets a lot of life but a little love." Julliene laughed.

"I just pick out the wrong guys, they all just want one thing." Irial sighed.

"What kind of guys do you go for?" I asked as we got up to get some food.

"Tall, dark and too dangerous, oh and not to mention strange ideas about sex and the execution of it. I do have a thing for the bad guys but since the war I'm much more careful." Irial explained.

I nodded and focused on getting food on my plate, as the scent of food reached my nose I realized how hungry I really was. Everything smelled like it came straight out of the Hogwarts kitchen.

We sat back down and enjoyed the food and wine and some small talk. Mostly me asking questions about how life would be for a professional Quidditch players. The answers were most satisfying as both woman told me that personal life, training and matches were very good to combine.

Suddenly Gwen sighed and sank down in the chair next to me.

"What's wrong, Gwen?" I asked.

"That boyfriend of yours, that's what wrong." She said annoyed.

"What did he do now?" I chuckled.

"He's annoying me big time."

"With what?"

"Okay, don't get angry but I was talking to Harry about you and if he is going to marry you, have kids with you and everything. So he said he intend on it but the marry and kids thing would have to wait a while."

"Why is that annoying you? It should annoy me but not you."

"Urgh, you are so going to kill me." she groaned.

"I don't believe that, now tell."

"I was telling Harry that as much I wanted you on the team I couldn't stop imagining what would come from mixing Potter with Weasley blood."

"Oh." Julliene gasped. "She has a point, Ginny, kids of you and Harry would be like the ultimate Quidditch player."

"What?" I asked glaring at Julliene.

"Ginny, I was telling Harry he better hurry up making cute red headed Potter girls." Gwen chuckled.

"And you are blaming him for annoying you."

Gwen, Julliene and Irial were laughing like crazy and to be honest it was kind off funny, especially to see Gwen so annoyed with Harry. I got the feeling she was rather used to getting what she wanted. I was happy he was learning how to dodge the personal question and not be embarrassed about it, even if it was only with friends.

"But, Ginny, won't you seriously consider it?" Gwen begged.

"Uhm, no, I have no wish for kids yet. Maybe in a year or five or ten."

The discussion of possible kids was quickly diverted by the arrival of Elly and Colleen. They of course were still talking about Quidditch, so much so that after ten minutes Gwen groaned.

"Colleen as much as I love to hear how focused you are on Quidditch, don't you talk about anything else?"

"No, she doesn't." I said.

Colleen glared at me.

"No, you don't, it's always Quidditch. Well 95 percent of the time." I shrugged.

"There is nothing in my life that's important enough to talk about besides Quidditch." Colleen said challenging.

"Hear, hear, a girl after my heart." Irial said why placing an arm around Colleen shoulders.

As we sat there slowly more members of the team gathered around us, like a family, always being drawn back to the people they care about. To be honest being with the team felt like being with a family, especially when the men decided to join us. The chatter was easy and everybody was considered an equal member. Even Colleen, although she was so young, nobody ignored her and even the men talked to her like she was already a part of the team.

Harry sat across from me talking to Colleen and Jason, from the look on his face I could see he liked Jason. He talked and laughed easily with him. From what I was able to hear, they had managed to get Colleen talking about something else as Quidditch as they were discussing a new legislation for the introduction on muggle-borns into the magical world.

Soon I got distracted by Elanor the second Keeper of the team. She was quite a bit older than the rest of the team, she and Elly were named the granny's of the team but weren't even thirty. Elanor was easy to talk with, she was very smart and know a lot about almost everything. Much like Hermione but not as booky.

It wasn't until Colleen stood up to return to her tent that I noticed the time. It was late already and I was really tired, not to mention the effect of the wine on my tired body.

"Colleen, we're coming with you." I said as I looked for Harry.

"Harry has left already." Colleen said.

"What? Why?"

"He said he wanted to write somebody and was tired. He asked me to tell you when you looked for him."

"Oh, alright." I said a bit hesitant. I wondered why Harry hadn't told me himself but I considered he probably had a good reason. I said goodnight to the remaining members and left with Colleen. She was a bit more silent than before but still talking about how amazing the day had been. It was dark outside but the path to the tents were lit.

When I stepped into the dark I realized that I was with a girl that was wanted by a rouge Death Eater. I pushed my hand into my pocket and wrapped it around my wand, think Harry would agree with being cautious.

"Ginny? You look really tense, is something wrong?" Colleen asked as we reached the camp site.

"No, it's just that after everything that has happened it's difficult to relax when I'm outside at night." I quickly lied. Well it was a half lie, the dark was still the moment that I was more aware of possible dangers but I still hadn't decided if I should tell her about her father and uncle so I choose for the easy out.

"I can understand that, with my family history and all I'm really careful as well. Maybe it doesn't seem like it but I'm always on my guard."

"Family history?" I asked.

"Yeah, with my father coming from a family of Death Eaters and my mom betraying them. Lets just say that they weren't happy."

"Family of Death Eaters?" it wasn't difficult to fake shock because in all honesty I was shocked about how casual and easy she talked about it.

"I thought you knew." Colleen gasped. "With Harry and all."

I blinked a few times at her, had she just assumed I knew that and was that why she was so honest and open about it all to me?

"I knew." I whispered.

"I figured that, Harry had probably told you to be careful around me, that I could be dangerous." Colleen sighed. "I won't blame him, everybody who knows avoids me."

"I don't" I whispered.

"No, I'm grateful for that." She smiled.

"Uhm, Colleen? Are you very tired?"

"A bit, why?"

"We need to talk."

"About?"

"About the letters you keep receiving, Harry and I know a bit more about them. I was still considering what to tell you, I didn't want you to get more worried than necessary but as you are already…"

Colleen looked at me for a long time, I was afraid to see that I had hurt her by not telling but I saw something close to hope. Than she nodded and moved to follow me into our tent.

"Harry! Where are you?"

"Bed!" he called back.

"Wait here." I told Colleen and walked over to the secluded section where the bed was located. To my great relieve Harry was still fully dressed reading a letter with the ministry logo on it.

"Hey, love." He said smiling sweetly at me.

"Hey, Colleen is here, we need to talk to her."

"Oh, why now?"

"She knows we know about her uncle, she just assumed you would know and tell me, tell to stay away from her. She deserves the truth."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded and turned back to the main part of the tent, I heard Harry follow me.

"I'll make us some hot cocoa." Harry said as he saw Colleen sitting in a chair, she looked a bit down and nervous. I nodded and moved towards Colleen.

"I'm not disturbing any plans, am I?" She asked as she saw Harry walk past.

"No, of course not, I invited you in, didn't I?"

She smiled and nodded.

"Colleen, I know a lot more than just that your father comes from a family of Death Eaters." I started. "and to be honest, I think that Harry knows even more. What we know isn't really nice information, are you sure you want to hear all of it?"

Colleen looked at me and shrugged.

"My father wanted to hook me up with a Death Eaters son when I was really young, his younger brother is one of the most dangerous and most wanted Death Eaters." She sighed. "nothing can surprise me anymore about that family."

Harry sat down next to me and handed us two steaming cups.

"Colleen, to be honest this might just be a bit more personal to you." Harry told her. She looked up at him with a friendly smile.

"Just spit it." She said.

I looked at Harry to start but he waved at me, indicating I should be the one to talk. I glared for a second at him, letting him know that I didn't appreciate the fact that he was throwing me in front of the lions but I quickly turned to Colleen.

"We know your father isn't writing you." I started.

"What?" she gasped.

"Colleen, your father has been arrested shortly before Halloween based on the suspicion of hiding and supporting a wanted Death Eater and ever since he has been locked up in one of the ministry cells." Harry told her. "I have checked with the guard there, there is now way he could have been writing you."

"Who has been writing me?"

"We are not sure." I said in a whisper. "we have a theory but we just can't be sure."

"Our theory is that it might be your uncle who is writing you." Harry explained.

"Why would he be writing me?"

Harry sighed and closed his eyes.

"At the start at the Quidditch season at Hogwarts, the team pictures that have been taken were published in a Quidditch magazine. You and Ginny were in that picture. Half the wizarding world knows that you two are on the same team, spending a lot of time together. The WHOLE wizarding world knows that Ginny and I are together. I think and the head of the auror office agrees, that your uncle is trying to get close to you without us around to put you under and imperius curse."

"To order me to hurt you." She breathed.

"Something like that, or kidnap you, they know Gin and I would try to save you." Harry said as he grabbed my hand. Colleen closed her eyes and sighed. she didn't look worried, more annoyed.

"I'm going to hex that family into the next millennium." She muttered. "Harry, I swear I want nothing to do with them."

Her voice sounded pleading.

"I know Colleen, you have proved that already. What I'm worried about is that they just aren't used to getting a 'no' for an answer and they aren't known for their patience, I'm worried that they might do something rash and hurt you, or anyone around you." Harry explained.

Colleen let out a rush of swearwords and curses. She looked rather angry than upset about the whole thing.

"What can I do?" she asked after she calmed down.

"Not much." Harry sighed. "You just have to be careful and keep your eyes and ears open. Ward your tent, room at home and all those things. Maybe you should tell your mother."

Colleen nodded and yawed.

"I'm tired, I'll go to my tent. See you in the morning." She said with a smile as she got up. I was worried she would sulk or feel bad but I had the feeling that nothing could dampen her spirit. She was a true Gryffindor.

"She'll be alright." Harry said to me as he stood up.

"I know. I'm tired as well, tomorrow will be a long day, lets get some sleep."

He nodded and followed me to the bed. I quickly changed and slipped under the covers. I felt Harry's arm wrap around me and pull me close to him. Being so close to him made me relax much more easy, it was like all the stress on me was just pushed away by his warmth.

"Harry?" I asked after a few minutes of enjoying his warm body against mine.

"Yes." He whispered in my ear.

"Why did you leave tonight without telling me?"

"Oh, were you very upset about it?"

"No and yes, I wish you had told me but I didn't mind that you left."

"I didn't tell you because at that time you were having so much fun with Julliene and Irial, I didn't want to interrupt, so I asked Colleen to tell you where I went."

"Oh." I said lamely.

"Not what you thought?" He asked.

"I don't know what I thought to be honest, I just wondered why you would leave without telling me. If it was something important I expected you to say something."

"And I will. I was just tired, it's been a long time since I flew so much and I thought about writing Kingsley about a new idea that popped into my head."

"of course." I chuckled. I felt Harry laugh with me.

"So, you are not angry with me for leaving early?" he asked after a while.

"No, I thought it was weird that you just left, it's not what you normally do but now I think it showed your trust in me, you let me alone with Colleen and not wanting to protect my every step."

Harry didn't commented on it, he just softly pressed his nose in my hear and kissed my neck softly. It was such a sweet gesture, so lovingly that I couldn't help but sigh and smile.

"Lets sleep, love." Harry whispered and pulled me even closer to him. It was only than that I realized how tired I really was, within seconds I was gone, engulfed by blissful dreams.

The next day was indeed long and hard, I had expected a normal training with the Harpies would be gruel and that I would feel beaten at the end of the day but I never expected it to be so much fun and educating at the same time.

As the day progressed I realized that the original team was more like a family than I initially thought. The men would hang around together while the women flew, everybody was joking with each other. Halfway through the afternoon the men took it on themselves to play a Quidditch match. They were so loud at one point that we all stopped to watch them for a while. Gwen even had to break up an argument. Like I said, it was a close group of friends and I really felt like I belonged there.

What was even more important was that the girls really did make me feel like a part of the team. When they stopped between the different exercises and discussion started about tactics, technique, and all Quidditch related thing they pulled me into the discussion. Although I felt really inexperienced and young they seemed to value my opinion like that of any other team member. As the end of the sessions approached I figured that I still had a lot to learn and a lot of training to do. My body started to feel numb and I promised myself that I would start to train my body when I got back at Hogwarts, my overall physique wasn't so good as I thought it was.

When the sun started setting and the freezing temperature prevented Gwen to continue she called it to a stop and asked everybody to shower change and come to the club house for a final meeting.

After a long warm shower Harry and I made our way up to the club house.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"A bit." I admitted, "I really like the idea of flying professional and I like this team but the decision is not mine."

"I'm sure they will welcome you in their team. You seem to fit in quite well." Harry said.

"I sure hope so." I sighed.

It turned out that I had worried for nothing. I hadn't even made it into the club house when Irial pulled me into one of the offices. Before I could even utter a question I was pulled into a team hug, arms obscured any sight.

"Girls, let her breath." I heard Gwen sigh. When the arms finally released me I turned to the location of where the sound came from. Gwen was leaning against her desk and was looking at me, a small but happy smile marked her face.

"Ginny, the team was unanimous in their decision, as soon as you finish your NEWTS you are expected to show your face on this Quidditch pitch to sign a five year contract." Gwen said.

"Really?" I gasped.

"Yes!" Irial yelled.

"Of course." Julliene said with a smile.

The rest of the all agreed and Gwen nodded with a big smile.

"You still got lots to learn but if the last two days give any indication of your learning pace I'm sure you'll be flying for England at me side in no time." She said.

I threw my arms around her and hugged her close, I think I thanked her a thousand times. Over her shoulder I saw Harry watching, he was leaning against the door frame and was smiling at me. His face was bright with love and pride.

Much later that evening Harry and I arrived at the Burrow, he was still radiating with pride and I was bursting at the seams with happiness. Together with the team we had witnessed Colleen going crazy when Elly and Elanor told her that they would stay with the team until she was finished with school so she could join the team as first keeper. I think it was the first time I ever saw Colleen crying.

In the brightly lit and warm living room my family were all waiting to hear how everything went and as I collapsed on the sofa with Harry's arms wrapped around me I realized that for now nothing could burst my bubble of happiness, for now my life was perfect.

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**Don't forget to review, it's inspiration...**


	38. Luna's Bravery

_**Ever wondered what Luna did to have Harry and Ginny name their daughter after her, well here is the first of quite a few times Luna shows her bravery.**_

_**Thanks to all who is reviewing, I love them and yes I will continue this story...**_

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**38. Luna's bravery.**

Halfway through February school started to become crazy. The last Quidditch matches of the year started to approach and teachers kept reminding us that the NEWTS were getting closer and closer. It was so bad that Hermione never left the library, I honestly believe she was sleeping there as well. Ron's very short temper was an other clue to that, he was snapping around when anyone asked him where Hermione was. Sexually frustrated I concluded.

Like Hermione Harry was extremely busy as well and there were days I barely saw him for more than thirty minutes, besides that he studied just as hard as everybody, he was also helping Arn and Kingsley rounding up Death Eaters and Werewolves.

A break in all the stress came the weekend before Valentine's day, this weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend. I had planned on a girls day out to go shopping for a small gift for Harry for Valentine's day but Hermione reminded me that the boys might had something different in mind.

Friday night before the Hogsmeade weekend when Harry finally returned from the ministry I asked him.

"Harry?"

"Yes." He said as he opened his eyes lazily. He was laying on a bed in the Room of Requirement, while I healed his wounds. He had come back with a large gash across his upper arm and a cut on his face. They had Greyback's hide-out but he was gone and left a guard to deal with the aurors. Naturally Harry got himself in the middle of the battle.

"Tomorrow, Hogsmeade, do you have any plans?" I asked as I finished the last of the healing spells.

"Are you very upset when I say I don't have any special plans?" he asked.

"No, no, of course not, I haven't been thinking about that but I do hope we do something fun on Valentine's day."

"Of course, I have some good ideas already, you don't have to worry about that, I'll be here the whole day and I promise you to make it a good day." Harry said with a secretive smirk. "Do you have plans for tomorrow? I wouldn't mind going out for a drink or something."

"I was planning on a shopping trip with Luna, Colleen, and Hermione. I still have to find something nice for you." I told him.

"You don't have to get me anything." Harry dismissed the idea.

"I know I don't have too, but I'm pretty sure I want too." I smiled. "We can go to the Broomsticks later."

"That sounds like a plan." Harry smiled.

I nodded and continued wrapping his arm into a clean bandage. After about half an hour I finished tied a knot into the end so it would stay in place for a while.

"You are getting better at it all the time." Harry muttered as he inspected my work.

"I just wish it wasn't you I was practicing on." I whispered.

Harry turned to me and kissed me softly.

"I know." He said as he pulled back. "I'll try to be more careful next time."

I nodded and lay down next to him, softly he wrapped his arms around me. It felt nice to spend time together like this, just so peaceful and lovely. I never expected to be a girl who would like the peaceful quiet time, just a soft chat about things that were going on in our life or a cuddle. I had always been more a tomboy, rough and demanding but in times like these I felt like a girl from those sappy stories and I didn't mind one bit.

The next morning we woke up in the Room of Requirement by a loud knock on the door.

"Ginny, Harry!" I heard Hermione calling.

"Yes!"

The door opened and a sleepy but wild looking Hermione stepped in.

"Still in bed?" she asked.

"It was late last night." Harry murmured.

"Don't mind, are we still going to Hogsmeade?" she asked impatiently.

"Yeah, of course. What time is it." I asked my voice still rough from sleep.

"it's half past eight but if we want time left today to study we have to leave early."

"Hermione!" I groaned. "I am not going to study today and I'm not going to rush through the shops just so you can drive yourself crazy with books."

"The NEWTS are only three months away of course you have to study." She said like my mom would.

"Yes, I'll study but not today. I'll be down for breakfast in a few." I sighed and got out of bed.

When Harry and I arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast everybody was already waiting for us. I sat down next to a very sleepy looking Colleen.

"Hermione kicked you out of bed as well?" I asked as I dumped some eggs on my plate.

"Yeah, I tell you that girl is a maniac. They should find a cure for people like her."

I laughed and nodded, it had been something I thought as well when I was waking up in the shower.

"So, any special plans for today?" Colleen asked.

"I have to get Harry a good Valentine's day present and I agreed on having a drink with him later today but besides that not really. Just some girl time and shopping would be nice."

Colleen nodded and continued eating. Hermione was already buzzing to go before I had even time to finish my breakfast and read the Prophet. Once Luna joined the table Hermione was ready to go.

"Hermione! Calm down, can I finish breakfast first?" I yelled at her. She looked at me like I was a crazy.

"Ginny, we need to be back in time so we can study." Hermione sighed.

"Hermione! We had this discussion already, I'm not going to study today. You promised to have a day out with us girls, so stick to your promise. It's supposed to be fun."

"but the NEWTS."

"Don't even start." I growled at her. "You know bloody well you'll pass if you spend the next three months sleeping so one day wouldn't hurt."

Hermione looked like she was about to argue but Luna placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't worry Hermione, I have promised to help Hagrid this afternoon, we can go back early together."

"There, see, a solution." I sighed.

It was about twenty minutes later when we all left for the little village. Harry, Neville and Ron had decided to come along as well and spend the morning sightseeing from up on the mountains.

"When Sirius showed us the way I noticed the view. You can see the whole village from up there." Harry murmured.

"Must be very pretty, specially with this weather." I commented as I saw the cave entrance Harry pointed out. The weather was really nice and everybody was able to feel the first warm rays of the sun.

"Be careful, don't kill yourself while climbing up there." I said as he kissed me goodbye.

"I won't." he smiled. Suddenly he leaned forward and whispered in my ear. "and you watch out, you are out in the open with Colleen. They might be here."

His words hang eerily in the air and were sending Goosebumps up my body. I didn't dare to talk because I would sounded nervous and would send him in an overly protective state so I decided to nod and seal my promise with a kiss.

We watched the boys leave and then walked towards the first line of shops. It was nice shopping with the girls, we all looked for clothes and accessories, commented on the other and laughed loudly.

"Hermione?" Luna suddenly asked as we made our way to a shop where Hermione and I were hoping to find gifts for the boys.

"Yes."

"Have you started looking at wedding dresses yet?"

"What!" Colleen shouted. "You are getting married!"

"Shhh, Colleen." Hermione blushed.

"Why haven't you told us?" Colleen demanded loudly.

"Shhh, Colleen. Not everybody needs to know." Hermione whispered.

"Why not? You are getting married, don't you want the world to know it?"

"NO! Hell no, please. We just want a small wedding with friends and family, not the entire wizarding world paparazzi."

Hermione pointed to a group of skulking men just outside the last shop we left. We all glanced towards them and they scurried away. Colleen's face fell as she realized that she had just outed a big secret.

"Oh, I'm sorry Hermione." She muttered ashamed.

"It's alright, they would find out anyway." Hermione sighed. Ever since the rumors had appeared that Ron and Hermione, two of the Golden Trio, were engaged the press and photographers had haunted their every step, hoping to shoot a picture of her ring or them together. Although they had gotten a few good pictures over the holidays, since Hogwart's started again Hermione and Ron hadn't been out in public. We would be crazy not to expect press around today.

I glanced back over my shoulder to see where the men had gone to, I noticed them just two blocks away. A shiver ran up my spine and my gut told me that they weren't just ordinary photographers, they didn't really looked the part. Stupidly I ignored my instinct and walked on with the other girls.

The shop we were heading for was a bit of the main road, many students visited the shop so there was quite a lot of traffic in the small street. Because it was so busy I felt a false sense of security, I just couldn't imagine Death Eaters or the run attacking in a street with so many witches and wizards. When we finally reached the shop I let out a breath that I didn't even noticed I was holding.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked as I glanced through the window for the hundredth time in ten minutes. We had been inside the shop looking for gifts for the past twenty minutes and I was waiting for the other to finish and pay for their things. I had found the perfect gift for Harry and had paid already. I was looking at the display for Valentine's gifts in the window while waiting, something felt wrong and I kept looking out the window to see why I felt it.

I glanced around to see where Luna and Colleen were, they were looking at a selection of curious books and were far away.

"I don't know." I whispered. "Something feels wrong."

Hermione looked outside as well, her eyes darting from face to face.

"Maybe we should leave." Hermione breathed.

I nodded. "I have everything I need, you go get Luna and Colleen, I'll wait at the door." I whispered as I pulled my wand out my pocket. I watched Hermione making her way towards the two girls who were chatting obliviously. I watched Hermione leaning forward and whisper something to both girl. I saw Luna's eyes widened a fraction before her hand moved towards her wand, she agreed with what Hermione was saying.

I glanced out the window, this time I saw them, the group of men that we thought had been reporters but now I recognized one of them, Greyback. _What the hell is he doing here?_ I let out a string of curses and I turned back to watch what the others were doing. They were making their way to the counter, doing a perfect job in not showing that they knew something was up.

I grasped my bracelet and pointed my wand at it, thanks to Hermione's spell work it had become a very effective way to communicate with Harry and the other D.A. core members. I muttered the spell and I thought of the message that I needed to get to Harry. I watched the text on my bracelet change.

_Greyback is here, last shop on the__ left. I'm inside._

I saw Hermione looking down and than glancing towards me, she gave an appreciative nod. The boys knew.

I shot a quick glance towards the group of men again, they were talking amongst themselves. I had the feeling they were discussing what to do, going into the shop or wait for us to ambush us outside. When Hermione, Luna and Colleen made their way towards me I stepped away from the door so that they wouldn't see us talking.

"Greyback? Really?" Hermione asked in a quick whisper.

"Yes, and I think the others are Death Eaters." I glanced towards the window again. Colleen followed my eyes and saw the group and gasped loudly.

"That's my uncle." She breathed. For a second she was dumbstruck, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide but only for a second. Her eyes blazed with anger and she pulled out her wand. "I'm going to finish that family once and for all." She hissed and stalked towards the door.

"No, Colleen!" I called after her, trying to grab her arms but I was to late. I shot a glance at Hermione, who sighed and nodded. The three of us followed her out quickly.

We were outside in a second, just in time to see Colleen's face change into a pleasant smile as she walked up towards her uncle.

"Hello, uncle. What a surprise to see you here." She said. Everybody who knew Colleen relatively well knew that the sweet voiced Colleen was dangerous, very dangerous. Although she wasn't training to battle she was really good with hexes.

"Colleen, it's good to see you." The man muttered. He was still trying to hide his face from the shoppers who walked by. "Too bad you didn't show up at Christmas."

"I don't like your side of the family much." Colleen answers even more sweetly. Next to me I heard Hermione mutter a shield charm and saw it wrap around Colleen, the werewolf and Death Eaters didn't seem to noticed as Colleen was effectively distracting them.

Suddenly I felt my bracelet burn and glanced down.

_On my way. Stay out of trouble_

Well, it was too late for that but I sure hoped Harry and the boys would find us soon because Colleen needed to be saved desperately.

"I've noticed. That was a big mistake to make." I heard Mulciber growl. Although he sounded so menacing Colleen didn't flinch, she even took a step forward and glared at the man.

"No, that damn family choose wrong, you lost last May." Colleen hissed all pretences gone. She had drawn her wand and was pointing it at him. It made him laugh loudly.

"Do you little girl think you can duel with us." He asked loudly and I hated to admit that he had a point, Colleen wasn't trained for dueling. Yes, she was brave and yes, she had great hexing skills but dueling a Death Eater was something entirely different. To make matters worse Colleen didn't back off.

"There will be no us, it's only you I like to kill." She hissed.

The whole group was laughing now.

"You don't know how to kill but be a good niece and I'll teach you." And with that he drew his wand. Colleen didn't flinch but slowly took a step back. The Death Eater pointed his wand to her but before he could mutter a curse I disarmed him.

"Expelliarmus!"

His wand flew through the air before he noticed me, landing smoothly in my hand. It drew attention to our small group and I prayed that Harry would hurry up.

When Greyback pulled his wand and pointed it towards me, any worry left me, my whole body switched back into that battle mode. I quickly scanned the group, Mulciber was the only one I knew, the others, three in total, looked a lot younger, too young to be Death Eaters for very long. My opinion was that Greyback and Mulciber had been recruiting but I wondered how trained they were.

"Well, well, miss Weasley, it's good to see you. I have been looking for you, did you know that?" Greyback said. My eyes flashed to him but I didn't answer, instead I focussed on getting Colleen away from them.

"We can't attack while Colleen is still there." Hermione hissed.

"I know, how to get her out?" I whispered.

"Apparition." Luna hissed. "I'll apparate next to her and take her away again."

"That's dangerous, you both get splinched." Hermione objected.

I nodded it was too dangerous.

"Do it when they attack us, we can shield her from here." I answered.

"It's rude not to answer, miss Weasley." Greyback hummed. "I expected the boy-I-am-going-to-kill to have a better behaved girlfriend. Guess I was wrong."

He waved his wand and muttered a curse, I was quick enough to deflect it but now people around us noticed and chaos broke out. Few were brave enough to face the group, those who did found themselves quickly stunned by the young men that defended Mulciber. It fell silence soon, many lay stunned on the cold floor.

"Oh, brave guy you are, Mulciber. Needing three young untrained men to defend you." I yelled. "Especially now you are wandless."

I twirled his wand through my fingers. Colleen took an other step aside so that I got a clear shot at the Death Eater but I knew that would have made me venerable to a possible attack from Greyback. Same went for Luna or Hermione.

The Death Eater glared at me and muttered something to his companions. Suddenly curses flew at us and Hermione's quick spell work deflected all of them but in the commotion Greyback had snatched Colleen in his arms and was smiling menacingly at me.

"Now, Weasley, lets see what you are willing to do for a friend." He growled.

"She's Mulciber blood, he would be so put off if you hurt her." I challenged back.

The werewolf glanced at the Death Eater for a second, it was hard to establish who was actually in charge of the group.

"Ginny, Harry would go berserk if you do anything stupid." Hermione hissed. She was right but I had expected him to be here already, apparating took only seconds, why he wasn't here already I didn't knew. It didn't matter anyway because before I was able to think of doing anything stupid Colleen did.

She stamped down hard, the three inch heels of her booth smashed into the left foot of the werewolf, he howled in pain, to finished it off she threw a man-sized punch right into her uncle's face and ran towards us.

That was a mistake because she turned her back on her enemy and with four of them still armed, Hermione was almost too late with her shield. While I shot stunning spells towards the werewolf, Luna focused on catching Colleen.

"I'm so sorry, Ginny." Colleen sobbed. "I shouldn't have lost my temper."

"It's alright but I am going to loose my temper with Harry if he doesn't show up here soon." I growled. It had been almost five minutes since he had send back a message, he should have been here already. This time it would be his fault if Greyback got away.

"We should withdraw." Hermione muttered but at the same Greyback shot a curse towards Colleen and hit her square in the chest. She crumpled to the floor in a painful cry.

"Dammit!" Hermione yelled.

Seeing Colleen crying in pain at Luna's feet released the last of control I had over my temper, a cat like hiss came from my lungs. I made to fling a few curses to the werewolf when the air around us cracked. Suddenly curses and hexes were flying around uncontrollably.

I looked around and saw Harry standing next to me, he looked furious.

"I thought you would stay out of trouble." He hissed at me. I blanched as I realized that his anger was directed at me and not the group of men we were battling. It distracted me and I forgot to held up my shield. I didn't even notice a curse heading towards me until Luna yelled.

"Ginny! Watch out!"

I wiped around to see a jet of light coming towards me but I was too stunned to move. I closed my eyes to prepare for impact, realizing that this was going to hurt. Suddenly I felt a hand pushing me aside and heard somebody yell.

"No, Luna!" It was Harry's voice. My eyes snapped open in time to see Luna crumble at my feet.

"No!" I gasped. Around me everything fell silent, I lowered myself onto my knees next to Luna. Dazed and completely unaware of my surroundings I felt for a pulse. I sighed relieved when I felt a slow soft pulse. I slowly turned her over to see if there were any wounds but she looked completely unharmed, except that she was unconscious. Her breathing was irregular and she was extremely pale. Annoyingly after reading so much about curses and how to heal them I didn't recognize this one. I remember the color of the curse had been bright blue but I couldn't find the curse that went along with it.

"Ginny." I heard somebody say next to me, I just didn't had it in me to answer. I muttered spell after spell to make sure Luna came back to us, of course nothing worked, I just couldn't find the right one.

"Gin, we need to get her to madam Pomfrey." It was Harry's voice, I was his hand pulling mine away from Luna. I hissed angrily as he took my wand away. "Hagrid will carry Luna to the castle." He whispered and pulled me aside.

Suddenly a large figure cut my view of Luna away.

"No! Luna needs me!" I yelled and pulled away from Harry. I rushed past Hagrid and grabbed Luna's hand. It felt so cold.

"Ginny, I need to get her up to the castle." I heard Hagrid say. It was only then that the truth reached my mind, he was right. I stepped aside and let Hagrid lift her, without looking back I followed Hagrid up the road, running to keep up with him. All along the way my mind stayed in it's half dazed stupor. Not wanting to go to the darkest of thoughts but not wanting to hope that Luna would be alright as well.

The only realization that hit me was that Luna had stepped in front of me and took an unknown curse that was meant for me and that realization hurt a lot. Even more my irrational side was starting to blame Harry for it all. He had showed up almost ten minutes after he confirmed that he had received my message and than he had the nerve to be angry with me. I tried to push that thought away, I tried to maintain some sort of calm but it was getting harder and harder as Luna continued to remain unconscious.

I barely noticed making it back to the castle or even making it up so many flights of stairs to the hospital wing it was only when I saw Luna being laid down on the white sheets that I realized where I was.

"What happen?" Madam Pomfrey asked Hagrid.

"Greyback and some Death Eaters in the village, the aurors are dealing with them but miss Lovegood got hit by a curse. I don't know which one." Hagrid told her.

"Ginny, do you know what hit her?" Madam Pomfrey asked. For the first time since I watched Luna grumble before my feet I was able to think clearly and I shook my head.

"It was a bright blue jet of light. I tried all the healing spells I know but non worked." I told her. She nodded and turned her attention to the pale girl in front of me. I sank in the chair next to her bed and watched madam Pomfrey examining Luna. I noticed that after five minutes the nurse started to look really worried.

"I have to look some things up and contact St. Mungo's. Will you stay with her for a while, if something changes send someone it find me in the library?" the old woman suddenly asked.

"Yes, I'll take care of her, what do you think is wrong with her?"

"I'm not sure, it could be an energy draining curse and we will have to find a counter curse but the lack of responses she gives is wrong. The curse might have been something different."

I nodded and looked at Luna.

"She stepped in front of me when the curse was about to hit me." I whispered. "Do you think she'll be alright?"

"I honestly don't know." The nurse said sadly and left the room, leaving the door open for the others to enter. I saw Colleen being carried in by Ron and Harry, blood was dripping from her arm. Harry and Ron laid her down in the bed next to Luna.

"Ginny, you know so much about healing curses, could you have a look at her wounds?" Harry asked as he handed me my wand. I glared at him as I remembered my anger with him but Colleen was hurt so I nodded and focused on Colleen. The cut across her head was easily healed and Hermione assisted with bandaging the wounds I healed her as well as I could.

The only wound that worried me was the one on her upper arm, it ran all the way up to her chest, it edges had gone blue already and the spells I was using weren't doing much good.

"I need dittany." I muttered.

"I'll get it." Harry said and walk over to the large cabinet next to madam Pomfrey's private rooms. After a short search he quickly returned to me and handed me the small bottle with a sad smile, I decided to glare at him.

While I silently worked I reminded myself why I was angry with him and that he too had been angry, with me, while he had been late, while he had distracted me, while he…

Slowly I felt tears running down my face. Colleen was in pain and Luna was in some limbo between life and something unexplained and although I blamed Harry for it I knew it had been my own fault. I should have listened to my cut feeling and contacted Harry sooner. No, I should have been able to defend Colleen, what else did we train in the D.A. for.'

I looked up to the sound of the large doors opening in the hope to see madam Pomfrey return but instead professor McGonagall and Kingsley walked in.

"Where is madam Pomfrey?" McGonagall asked as she saw me healing Colleen.

"To the library, she said she needed to look for something. Something to do with Luna's condition." I said softly.

"She left you in charge?" McGonagall asked, her voice full of disbelieve.

"No, of course not." I hissed. "she asked if I would stay with Luna but they brought Colleen in after she left, I hardly could have let her bleeding, could I?"

"No, I guess not. How's Colleen doing?" she asked much more gentle.

"Alright, just this cut that is being difficult but we can wrap it up now and wait for madam Pomfrey to come up with a better solution."

"and Luna?"

I think she noticed the flash of pain that made me winch but she didn't commented on it.

"I don't know." I whispered. "She's unconscious and isn't reacting to any spell or enchantment, nothing I tried or madam Pomfrey tried worked. Madam Pomfrey said something about an energy draining curse or something that would stop her from reacting but she wasn't sure."

"and you, how are you doing?" this time she sounded actually worried.

I looked at her for a few second, she looked right back at me, our eyes met and it wasn't difficult to convey my feelings to her.

"Luna took that curse for me, she stepped in front of me while I was distracted." I whispered and threw and other glare at Harry. McGonagall seem to get what I meant and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and squeezed softly.

"Ginny, could you tell us what happened?" Kingsley asked as he spoke for the first time.

"Haven't you heard it already?" I asked.

"A bit but it seemed like you were the one who recognized them first, I would like to hear it from you and get your opinion."

I sighed and sat down back on the chair I had claimed before.

"We were shopping for Valentine's gifts, when we were discussing Ron and Hermione's engagement, Colleen was a bit loud about it and Hermione pointed out a group of men that she thought were press and photographers, when I looked at them my gut feeling told me that something about them wasn't quite right. I just ignored it." I groaned in frustration with myself. "When we went into that last shop on the left road, I noticed them following us and after I paid for my things I saw them looking at us through the shops window, that was when I recognized Greyback. Hermione asked what was wrong and I told her to inform Colleen and Luna. I had planned for us to stay in the shop until Harry could warn you and Arn."

"How did you let Harry know about Greyback." Kingsley asked. I held up my arm and showed him my bracelet.

"Hermione charmed our D.A. jewelry, it makes it possible for us to communicate short messages."

Kingsley looked closely at the bracelet and then nodded. "Continue please."

"After the others paid for their things they came back to me, I was standing by the door just out of sight from the street, I thought that if Greyback and Mulciber were coming in I was in the perfect place to attack them but Colleen recognized her uncle. She…she got really angry and stormed out before I could do anything."

I look at Harry when I spoke, I wanted him to know how wrong he had been and he realized it as his eyes widened and than glared towards the still unconscious Colleen.

"Was there any reason why miss Hellworn charged after a Death Eater?" McGonagall asked.

"Colleen was angry with him, he under the pretences of being her father, have been writing her, or at least we suspect him of that, he wanted to come in contact with her, we aren't sure why but it has been going on for a while. She got so fed up with that side of her family that I'm sure that if she knew how to do it she would have tortured him without a second thought."

"I take it you went out after her?" Kingsley said.

"What else could we do." I sighed. "Colleen hadn't been in the D.A. and I doubt that she knows very much about dueling and defending herself. The problem was that she was too close to the group for us to do anything. Any curse or hex would have affected her as well. I was able to disarm Mulciber but Greyback was too quick for us, Colleen got hit by a curse."

It was silent for a while, everybody knew what happened with Luna and now the whole story was out. I glanced at Harry, he was looking at me with sad eyes, it was almost like he was trying to communicate that he felt sorry for his reaction but he was going to need more this time than puppy eyes and sad looks.

"Did you get them all?" I asked Kingsley.

"No, only the three younger men, Greyback and Mulciber apparated away before Hermione could place an anti-apparation spell."

"You all got there too late." I hissed angrily. "it was almost ten minutes after Harry confirmed that he got my message before you all showed up, they could have apparated to China and kill the emperor in the that time, maybe even serve tea."

"Gin…" Harry started.

"Nothing Gin… you know it's true, they could have murdered half the town in the time it took you lot to show up. It's no wonder Greyback and the Death Eater are always getting away!" I spat at them. I would have continued if it wasn't that I heard a strange sound coming from Luna. She was coughing and had difficulty breathing.

"madam Pomfrey is in the library, some one get her quickly." I barked as I moved to help Luna a bit more upright, hoping to make it a bit more easy for her to breath. "Go!" I yelled as I heard nobody move.

An hour later two healers from St. Mungo's showed up to take Luna to the hospital. Madam Pomfrey couldn't do anything for her, the curse that had hit her was draining her energy in a rapid rate. She needed a potion that was strong enough to stop the curse but even the healers weren't sure that they could find the right potion for her.

"She has eighteen hours left, than her energy will be drained to a level that it won't be enough to support her heart." I heard the healer tell madam Pomfrey.

"Can you help her?" she asked.

"Maybe, we have to find a strong enough potion, maybe."

Both madam Pomfrey and I whimpered a short nod and the healer left quickly. I watched them leaving the hospital wing and broke down in sobs when the door closed.

"There, there." Madam Pomfrey said as she pulled me in a motherly hug. "It will be alright. Miss Lovegood will be healthy again soon and thanks to you miss Hellworn will be scar free. You did good today."

"Luna stepped in front of that curse, it was meant for me." I cried softly. "Just like that, it could have been a killing curse."

"The healers of St. Mungo's are the best in the world, they will find a cure for her."

"It's all because I was distracted."

"What distracted you?" she asked.

"Harry, he was furious at me. I was so shocked that he even could be angry with me for trying to defend Colleen."

"It sound like he wasn't well informed."

"That still was no reason to be angry with me." I sniveled.

"No, it isn't but knowing a Potter I'm sure he was just really worried. That guy is really madly in love with you."

"I know but look where his behavior got us, Luna in St. Mungo's fighting for her life." I sighed.

"Luna will be alright, it was a severe energy draining curse that hit her, something much heavier that I have ever dealt with and with Severus dead I have nobody with enough knowledge of dark magic to help me or to make strong enough healing potions. I hate asking advise because I'm proud of my knowledge but this is beyond me, that's why I contacted the Healers."

"So, do you think she really will be alright?"

"Yes, they will find the right potion and she'll need a week or a bit more to regain her energy but she'll be back here soon. Have a bit of faith. Has her dad been informed?"

"I think Hermione did it but he is staying at St. Mungo's himself so I'm sure they will inform him there as well. I should send word for my brother, though."

"Why?"

"Luna and Charlie got together over Christmas."

"Charlie is your brother who likes danger more than the twins, right? The one who works with Dragons?"

"Yes."

"They'll be a good match." Madam Pomfrey smiled. I nodded and yawned, I looked out to see it had already gotten dark.

"I better go up to the get a school owl to fly to Romania." I sighed and got up.

"and you should get some sleep." Madam Pomfrey said motherly.

"Yes, I will and I'll come back tomorrow, to see if I need to search for a new keeper for the last match."

I waved goodbye to madam Pomfrey and ran to the owlery. Once there I scribbled a quick note to Charlie, informing him that his unofficial girlfriend saved his sister and doing so got herself landed in St. Mungo's and that he should come back to see her very soon but that we had great hope that she would be alright. I wrote down a small explanation of what curse hit her and sealed the letter. A large eagle owl looked strong enough to take the long trip quickly, with a bit of convincing and begging with food he agreed and flew into the darkness.

I watched the owl until he was absorbed in the darkness and turned to walk back to the common room. When I reached the portrait I heard loud noises coming from inside and groaned, I was so not in the mood for questions and loud people. I turned around and headed for the Room of Requirement in the hope to find some peace and quiet.

Of course I was utterly wrong as I saw the door appear and heard Ron and Harry talking. I should have known that they would wait for me there. I was halfway through deciding to turn around and go back to the common room when I realized I had to face them sometime, better do it now.

The three of them were sitting in front of a roaring fire when I walked in, Harry with his back to me and Hermione was laying down with her head in Ron's lap. When Ron looked up and at me Harry turned around. He didn't smile or looked sad, his face was impassive but his eyes betrayed the thoughts he entertained. It stormed in his head and it would be best for us to be alone, Ron and Hermione didn't need to witness the explosion. I think Hermione understood and glanced at Harry for a second.

"How is she?" Hermione asked.

I shook my head and wiped away the tears that had started to flow again.

"They have to find a strong enough potion within seventeen hours or they will be too late."

"Oh, no." Hermione whimpered.

"Madam Pomfrey said not to loose hope, so I won't. I have written to Charlie and told him what was going on, would one of you inform mum?"

"I think Kingsley will tell dad." Ron muttered. Harry stilled hadn't said anything, in fact he hadn't even moved, his stormy eyes were still fixed on me and now Hermione noticed the waves of angry rolling from him as well.

"Ron, I'm tired shall we go back to the common room?" She asked as she got up. Ron daft as always looked at her as if she had spoken Chinese, so she held out her hand and winked at him with a sassy smile, that was something Ron did understood. Pathetic.

I watched them leave the room before I turned back to Harry, he had moved and was now pacing in front of the fire, he look agitated.

"Lets hear it." I sighed as I sat down on the sofa.

He whirled around and glared at me.

"How can you be so blasé about what happened?" he asked loudly.

"I'm not but obviously you have a lot to say, so spit it so that I have a legitimate reason to hex you."

"Ginny! Of course I have something to say about it all, like I told you to stay safe!" he yelled at me.

"And I tried, what did you want me to do, let Colleen get herself cursed, imperioused or murdered in front of my eyes. If you weren't so damn late nothing would have happened to us and you could have taken Greyback and Mulciber in without a hitch!" I spat at him.

He just glared at me.

"Why were you so late anyway?" I asked wearily.

"because those damn aurors wouldn't believe Greyback showed up in Hogsmeade, they thought it was an other false alarm. It took me a lot to convince them to come."

"That might be but it wasn't any reason to out your frustrations on me." I snapped.

"I had enough reasons to be angry with you, you put yourself in danger, again!"

"Myself in danger again?" I yelled, "Fuck! Harry, like I invited Greyback and Mulciber, like I asked them to follow us and send curses at us."

He looked at me with a pained look in his eyes.

"Dammit Harry, you always said that trouble seemed to be able to find you, I guess your girlfriend has to suffer that same fate and still you don't get it." I sighed and sank into the soft cushions of the sofa again.

He sank down onto the floor with his back against the wall but still he stayed silent. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, like he was having a headache.

"Do you have any idea what I went through today?" he whispered, it sounded like he was still blaming me for everything.

"The same as you probably." I snapped. "I saw someone I care a lot about taking a curse for me, a curse that could have easily been a killing curse. It was even worse because it was my own fault that she did it, I got distracted, distracted because you were behaving like an arse! A late, badly informed, wand-up-your-ass arse." my voice was getting hoarse of the yelling, I sighed and closed my eyes. I felt hot tears rolling down my face.

"Do you have any idea how much it hurts to realize that Luna can die because I was too preoccupied with my boyfriend. Due to my mistake." I whispered weakly and let the tears flow freely. It was a pain that I had been able to suppress ever since it happened.

I pulled up my knees and pressed my eyes against them, letting my misery take me. I all but forgot my fight with Harry and the ideas of what could have happened take over everything. It had ran through my mind from the moment I saw Luna fall, she could have died in an instant.

I don't know how long I sat there feeling utterly alone and miserable but suddenly I noticed an arm around me and somebody rocking me.

"It wasn't your fault." He whispered continuously.

It took a long time to calm down, Luna was my best friend, Hermione my sister but Luna really was the only one I could talk to without getting embarrassed or feeling weird and now she was in the hospital because she was stupid enough to step in front of a curse for me.

"Why did she do it?" I whispered.

"I don't know, love, I really don't know." Harry said as he kissed my hair.

"I just can't think of why she stepped in front of that curse, I understand why your mother did, I know my own reasons if I ever do it but this…"

"I know." Harry whispered. "We'll go to visit her tomorrow and ask her. The healer told Kingsley that she would be alright as soon as they find the right potion. They will find the right potion."

I nodded and closed my eyes again, I leaned my head back and laid in on Harry's shoulder and tried to relax but I wasn't succeeding.

"I feel so stupid." I whispered.

"Why?" Harry asked shocked.

"Because I let myself get distracted again, you'd think I had learned from being in a hospital bed for three weeks and not even six months later I make the same mistake again."

"It wasn't your fault, love. If it was anyone fault it was mine, I shouldn't have been angry with you or so late, I shouldn't have gone to the ministry first." Harry said with a pained voice, "I just thought… that this was our chance… a chance to finally get Greyback, I didn't realize that Mulciber was with him. I thought that the four of you would be able to watch Greyback and keep him there while keeping yourself out of trouble. I should have know that it wasn't going to be like that."

"I guess we both made mistakes." I sighed sadly.

"and we will continue making them."

I fell asleep against Harry and woke up when I heard a lot of noise, I realized really quickly that the school was waking up and that people were heading out for breakfast. I didn't remember getting in a bed but I was and I was wearing a nightgown which I couldn't remember putting on. Harry was laying next to me with his arms around me.

A loud knock on the door woke me up even more and I felt Harry turn around.

"Come in." he called before he whispered, "Good morning, love.

I sighed and turned around to give him a kiss.

"Could you guys please get out of bed." I heard Ron muttered.

"Good morning to you to, Ron." Harry groaned and pulled away the blankets.

I got dressed quickly and sat down next to Hermione as they were talking about the plan for the day.

"I'm taking Ginny to St. Mungo's as soon as we have breakfast." Harry told them. "She wants to talk to Luna."

"I can understand that." Hermione nodded. "Would you be able to talk to her today?"

"I think so, they said she needed a potion and a few days of rest. I think she will be awake today. If not we would have heard by now" I finished sadly. I was sure that if Luna hadn't made it through the night McGonagall would have elves inform us.

We ate breakfast in the Room of Requirement, thanks to Kreacher, and went to see Professor McGonagall to tell her that we were going to St. Mungo's, to my surprise she agreed immediately and told us to stop by to report. Ten minutes later we arrived at the wizards hospital.

It was rather busy, as we walked in all sorts of magical beings were walking around, some looking gruesome or just really ill. They didn't pay much attention to us and we quickly made it to the reception desk.

"Hello dears, what can I do for you?" the witch behind the desk asked.

"We are here to visit Luna Lovegood. Could you tell us where we can find her." I asked.

The witch looked through her files.

"She'll be at spell damage, do you know the way?"

"Yes." Harry told her. We quickly made our way up and looked for her healer. We found her when she just left Luna's room.

"Can I help you?" she asked as she saw us.

"Yes, I'm Ginny Weasley, I wonder if I can see Luna Lovegood?"

"Oh, sure. She woke up early this morning and is feeling better ever since, she would be happy to talk to someone."

"Oh, really?" I asked happily.

"Yes, it had been close, the potion we needed wasn't here and brewing it would have taken a month. We were about to give it up, we had contacted every potions brewer we knew and no luck. Miss Lovegood needed a really rare potion to stop her energy from draining and we just couldn't get it."

"What happened?"

"Just after midnight a young man showed up, demanding to see miss Lovegood, I think he's your brother."

"Charlie?"

"Yes, that was is, Charlie Weasley. I could tell he was desperate to be with miss Lovegood so I let him in, he asked what was happening and I told him that we were failing our attempts. He asked what we needed and I told him the name of the potion we needed, he just ran out. Five minutes later he returned holding a phial of that very same potion."

"How did he…?" I started.

"I asked him that as well, I was shocked to see a young dragon wrangler in possession of such a rare potion, he said they used it on hatchlings when they get accidentally injured by their mother, on dragon hatchlings it apparently has a calming effect, strange huh."

I nodded in agreement, completely in awe of my brother.

"How is she, really?" Harry asked.

"She was in a pretty bad shape when they brought her in but the potion did its job really well. She's a bit bruised and very tired but it's nothing that a few days of rest and potions can't heal. She was lucky."

We nodded and said goodbye before entering Luna's room. I was happy to see that he was sitting up and reading witch weekly.

"Hey, Ginny, Harry. You came to visit me?" she sounded so surprised.

"Of course, what else did you expect." I said trying to be my happy go lucky self, although I didn't felt like it. Even though I knew Luna was getting better, was going to be back at Hogwarts in a few days I still felt sad and responsible.

"How are you, Luna?" Harry asked.

"I'm alright, really tired, that curse drained all my energy but they say I'll be alright in a few days." She said casually, almost dreamy. I was shocked she talked so easily about it. I had been beating myself up about what happened and felt really awful about everything and she was just being her dreaming self.

I listened to Harry asked her a few more questions, mainly about her father and if she had seen him. From what I could make of it was that her father had been with her when she woke up that morning but that he had gone shortly after. I heard her telling about Charlie who had promised to come back after lunch. She just talked, happy, easy and dreamily.

"Why did you do it?" I suddenly flapped out.

Both Harry and Luna went silent immediately and looked at me.

"Tell me Luna, why did you step in front of that curse. Why?"

She looked at me in silence for a while, opening her mouth a few times but closing it when words wouldn't come. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"You were distracted, I backed you up." She whispered.

"it could have been a killing curse. It couldn't have been only a fact of backing up." I argued. Luna just looked at me but didn't say anything, it was like she was willing me to accept her explanation but I couldn't. I had the feeling there was more to it and I needed to know the real reason. I couldn't explain why but it was eating at me.

"Please, Luna, tell me." I begged.

She shook her head, "You'll be angry with me."

"Luna, Ginny and I have talked about this for a long time last night, we both don't understand it. I can understand why my mother did it for me and why I would do it for Ginny. I love her with everything I have, loosing her would kill me but you… I know you love Ginny, you care about her, she's your best friend but to throw yourself in front of an unknown curse…"

"Needs something more." Luna finished for him. "Harry, Ginny please don't get mad with me for this but I'm alone, my father is going to leave soon and I don't know if I will ever see him again. I've lost my mother a long time ago and I miss her so much. I've always been Loony, weird, dreamy and always someone that should be defended by her friends, I'm of no importance."

I started to sputter in protest but Luna held up her hand.

"Please don't be angry, this is how I saw it in that moment. You Ginny, I know you mean everything to Harry, I know that if you were killed Harry would follow soon, we have seen it at the beginning of the year, he was broken. You also mean everything to your family, the only Weasley girl. Your family and Harry both have lost too much already and can't deal with more loses but I have nothing to loose, nothing. So I stepped in front of that curse knowing that our world needed Harry and he needs you but also that I have come to love your family, all of them and they can't go on with out you."

It was silence for a while, I cried and sobbed and I fought not to yell at her for her stupidity. Harry just looked shocked. I took a deep calming breath before I dried my eyes and looked up at Luna.

"You know that is the most ridiculous reason to get yourself killed I have ever heard, right?"

"You are angry." She sighed.

"A bit but not as much as Charlie will be when he hears this."

"What do you mean?" she asked shocked.

"Luna how can you say you have nothing to loose when you have us, friends that care about you, me, I consider you my best friend, even more than Hermione, we can talk so much more freely. Your father, who will recover or who you will be able to visit, he isn't dead, he isn't gone forever. Most of all Charlie, who loves you above anything else, I know you only have been seeing each other for a few months but he loves you, he wouldn't lead you on, he wouldn't take you out on dates or kiss you senseless if he didn't love you. Don't you see, people care about you, isn't that enough to live for."

"But I couldn't let you die, it would hurt so many people, more than if I would be killed." She argued.

"No, Luna, every death hurts. I won't deny that if it was Ginny it would kill me but even if it was Colleen, who I don't know that well or an unknown wizard it still would have hurt us all." Harry said. "Besides have you ever thought about what your mother might say to you if you died and saw her again, would she be happy to hear that you offered up your own life because you thought you had less to loose than Ginny?"

Luna looked down at her laced fingers, I saw a single tear falling from her eyes and felt already sorry for everything we had been throwing at her. She wasn't in St. Mungo's for nothing and we were stressing her out. I got up and sat down next to her, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her.

"Luna, I love you and I'm very thankful for what you did but don't ever think like that again. One day you'll be my sister and I want you alive that day." I told her. She looked up with a smile.

"I'll try."

"Good."

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**please don't forget to review...**

**a warning for the next chapter, it will be from Harry's POV and because it will be Valentine's day it will be filled with LEMONS...many Lemons...**


	39. Valentine's day

_**I'm sorry I took so long but Harry was being annoying... his ideas of Valentine's day weren't the same as mine so we argued quite a lot but in the end I let him tell the story.**_

**_A warning before you start reading, this chapter is like a whole tree of lemons and it contains ridiculous fluffy parts...and it's all told from Harry's POV..._**

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**39. Valentine's day**

"Tell me why you need my help again?" Hermione asked with a sigh as she looked up from her book, she looked annoyed with me. I sank down next to her on the sofa, I quickly glanced around to make sure Ginny wasn't near.

"It's for tomorrow, I want to make Valentine's day perfect for Gin, this a part of it."

"Being able to write each other messages during classes?"

"Yes, it's a part of the plan. Please Hermione, I won't bother you again until after the NEWTS. Please."

Hermione sighed and pulled the two journals toward her.

"You really need to learn these charms yourself."

"I tried but it didn't work as well." I muttered. I watched as Hermione tapped the journals with her wand and muttered the spell. A soft light came from the tip of her wand and wrapped itself around the journals. When Hermione lifted her wand she looked up.

"You know that you have to explain this to Ginny before you give her the journal, right?"

"What? Why?" I asked shocked.

"Because otherwise she would freak out."

"Why?"

"Gosh, Harry, how bad is your memory, remember what happened the last time a book started to write to Ginny?"

I was stunned for a second scrambling for the memories she mentioned.

"Riddle." I hissed.

"Yes, she might be terrified no matter how kind your words are."

I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that before, Ginny's first year had always been a painful subject, she really didn't want to talk about it but I know it had been a terrifying experience.

"Well, there goes one part of the surprise but you are right, as always." I sighed and got up. "Thanks Hermione, you truly are brilliant."

Later that night I was laying in bed thinking about the next day, I had talked Ginny into sleeping in the dorms for once, lately we had been staying in the room of Requirement every night and I'm not complaining about it but for tomorrow I had special plans. A night of celibacy might create an even more pleasurable day tomorrow.

So I was laying alone, Ron's soft snores filled my ears and annoyed me to no end. Having dealt with them for seven years I realized I was really ready to have my own place, my own bedroom and bathroom, I had enjoyed school very much but I was ready to start my adult life.

To keep me from hexing Ron into a permanent silence I thought about my plans for Valentine's day. I hadn't been able to find the perfect gift for her therefore I had to think up a plan to make it up to her. My plan would ensure we both were going to have fun and nobody would ever doubt my heritage as a son of a marauder again. Sirius would be so proud. At least if everything went to plan.

I thought about how Ginny would react to everything, that was the only thing that could go wrong, I was almost a hundredth percent sure she was going to enjoy it very much, I sure planned on enjoying it. I fell asleep with vivid images of my imagination for the coming day.

"Master Harry!" I heard through my dream. "Master Harry, you have to wake up, you told Kreacher to wake you up."

I opened my eyes to see the old house elf tugging on my pillow.

"What time is it." I groaned.

"It's seven, master, exactly as you told me." the house elf squeaked.

"Alright, it's alright, I need to get up."

"Does Master Harry need Kreacher's help?"

I looked at the elf and thought for a second, there was something I wanted him to do.

"Oh. Yes. Could you make sure that this is placed next to Ginny's wand?" I conjured up a red rose and handed it to the elf.

"Of course, Master, anything else?" the elf bowed.

"No not yet, but please remember the plan for today, lunch at the lake and tonight the tent has to be ready between the trees in that secluded spot behind the greenhouses. Make sure it is decorated romantically."

"Yes, Master, Kreacher remembered."

"Good." I said as the elf apparated away.

"Big plans." Ron mumbled behind him.

"Yes, what about you?"

"Yes, I have made some plans for tonight, it's really great you let us use the Room of Requirement."

"Of course." I shrugged and walked into the shower room. After I got myself cleaned up and my hair in careful disarray I grabbed the journals and headed to the common room to wait for Ginny.

All the girls were up early, eyeing boys as they came down the stairs, looking for the boy that they were in love with in the hope he would noticed them or looking for their secret admirer. For me it meant that many girls were eyeing me, before the war I would have blush and hid under my cloak, I would have found it annoying, I even remembered my reaction to Ginny's first Valentine to me. I was really uncomfortable with the attention.

After facing Tom for the last time and killing the horcrux within me the shyness was gone, or at least the majority of it, now the only one that could make me blush was Ginny. It was one of the many small changes I felt after I was released from the horcrux. I really believed that Tom had been unable to deal with any attention other than the devotion from his followers, love and romantic attention had been something he hadn't been able to deal with. I pitied him.

"You could have picked out any of these girls, you know." Ron said to me as he came walking up to me.

"I have noticed but I want the one with the long red hair, cute freckles and cat like temper." I said with a chuckled.

"What temper?" I heard besides me. I turned to the most beautiful girl in the world who was now standing next to me.

"Yours." I said with a smile and a soft kiss on her lips. "I love your temper."

"Only my temper?" she mocked me.

"Nah, I would tell you everything I love about you but I think I'll have enough opportunities to show them to you today." I held out an other rose and pulled her into a kiss, her lips still felt as soft as they had done that first time. Her soft tongue tasted like honey and spices, it was intoxicating to kiss her. Slowly and with pain in my heart I pulled away and smiled down at her.

"Here, this is the first part of your gift. Happy Valentine." I whispered. I handed out one of the journals, the red one, and showed her that I kept the other one. She opened it and looked surprised at the empty pages.

"What is this?"

"It's a way of communication. When it heats up it means I am writing in mine and you can see what I write and the other way around."

"Like the D.A. bracelet?"

"Yes, but these can contain longer texts. The text will vanish as soon as you have read it, to prevent others from reading it."

I saw her watch at the journal with some sort of distrust. I had a feeling of what was going on in her head and I leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Don't worry, Hermione placed this spell on them and I bought them myself, they will be safe, I promise."

"Alright." She smiled, "So you are going to write to me during class?"

"Yes." I said with a smile. By the way she looked at me I could tell that my smile held something different, just as I planned. "Lets go eat." I said as I picked up my bag.

I knew Ginny's first class was history of magic and I expected her to be bored from the moment she set foot in that classroom. After breakfast I went back to the dormitories and sat down on my bed, I opened the blank journal and dipped the quill in the ink.

_Love, are you already bored?_ I wrote down, I watched the ink fading in the parchment and knew that Hermione had been right, this really looked a lot like the Riddle dairy.

_Yes, Binns is killing us slowly_. Appeared in her elegant script on the pages.

_Hmm, maybe I can help you if that_. I wrote back

_What did you have in mind?_

I glanced at the page and wondered what she was thinking.

_Well, I can offer some distraction._ I scribble down. I wrote faster this time because I had only History of Magic to get her excited about the first part.

_Please do._

_Maybe I can tell you what I am planning to do to you once your class is finished._

Her reply can really fast.

_What?_

_I'm going to touch you._

_Sounds interesting. _

I chuckled at her reaction, I could almost see her reaction. Her eyes would widen a bit, that cute but oh so sexy sparkle would make her eyes even more beautiful. I could see her pressing her teeth in her lower lip.

_Yes, interesting will be the thing I am going to do when you leave that class room._

_Oh, is that so, can I get a hint?_

_A hint? Lets just say that I sure hope you aren't very fond of your clothes, especially you knickers._ I wrote and imagined the moment she would walk out of her classroom, we had only ten minutes before we had our next class together so it had to be fast but good.

_I'm not wearing knickers!_

I swallowed loudly and blinked a few times to make sure it was really her handwriting.

_Now, that's what I am calling interesting. Makes touching you a lot easier._

The page stayed blank for a while, maybe because she was distracted by Binns or by any of the girls but it got me a bit impatient. Writing to her made me think of touching her, although I know I have nothing to complain about our sex life I just couldn't get enough of her. Even with a sleepy head and grumpy mood as she had when she would wake up every morning she pushed all my buttons.

_Silence,_ I wrote,_ I got actually time to think about where I want to touch you._

_Binns wanted an answer, tell me where._

I thought about writing down a cheeky answer and tell her 'on the desk in Binns classroom' but I though that might be used for later. I closed my eyes and imagined my first idea.

_There is an empty classroom next to where you are sitting now. I can imagine pushing you onto the desk and check for myself if you are wearing knickers or not._

I checked the clock to see what time it was, Ginny's class would finish in half an hour so I had plenty of time left to wait for her answer. It came rather quickly but her handwriting looked a bit shaky.

_You've got me distracted. I can imagine it._

_Than imagine this, my lips hot on yours, my hands hiking up your skirt, brushing those wet and ready lips of yours, me roughly pushing into you, taking you for my own._

It weren't words I usually used but I knew they would turn her on big time, she always liked it when I talked to her like that.

_Dear gods, have merci! Hermione is noticing._

_You only have twenty minutes left, write down your imagination._

It took a long time before words started to appear but once they did I wondered what happened to that innocent little girl that I met at King's Cross eight years ago.

_The library, in the back, between the restricted section and the first shelves, you pushing me against that window seat, on my knees, your cock pushing into me from behind, roughly and demandingly, your hand in my hair pulling rough. Us trying not to scream._

I was reeling from her quickly thought up fantasy as I walked towards her classroom. I had hidden myself under my cloak and would wait for her to be released for two hours of boring torture. Ten minutes between classes, I was pretty sure that it would be enough because thanks to her answer I had a permanent hard-on.

I heard shuffling inside the classroom and stepped aside to let the others out. Hermione skipped past me quickly probably running to the library to start her essay. Ginny was one of the last to leave the classroom, she was glancing around, I was sure she was looking for me. Silent as possible I walked up behind her and quickly placed my hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming.

She stiffened for a second but as I pushed my body against her she relaxed. I wrapped the cloak around her and pushed her towards the door of the empty classroom, I quickly turned the handle and let her in. I closed the door and locked it, I took the time to place the silencing charm on the room. As I pulled my cloak of I could hear her breathing, it was already heavy and sensual.

I turned around to face her and pulled her into a deep kiss. Her lips were so sweet, as I brushed my tongue over her lips she moaned. I slid my hands up along her legs, hitching up her skirt as I went. Her hands were already tucking at my belt and I made the mental note to forget the belt for the rest of the day.

I pushed her back against the wall capturing her with my weight. For a second I changed plans and took it slow, I let my fingers explore the soft skin of her tights and the warmth of her core. I didn't encounter any fabric, the little vixen had come up with plans of her own. I whimpered in her mouth as I felt her juices flowing freely already. She was so hot, wet and ready.

Her hand brushed my arousal as she pushed my trousers and boxers down, it set of fireworks in my head. I stepped forward as my trousers fell to the floor and pushed her further up against the wall.

"Gods, Harry." She moaned as I pressed my full weight against her. The roughness of her voice made me tremble, it was one of the things that had me loose all sense and clarity. The skin of her bottom was so soft as I let my hand glide over it, when she whimpered I lost it.

I lifted up her left leg and wrapped it around my hip, opening her entrance for me and I trusting forward.

"Harry!" she screamed. Dear lord! I love it when she screamed my name like that. Her screams went directly to my groin, making me climbing the hill of pleasure rather quickly. She wrapped her other leg around my waist and granted me full access and control. Well, what you could name control because with her I had none.

After only a minute or so of slamming into her warm wet core I felt her muscles tighten around me, her screams became rough and I felt her spasm in my arms. It was more than enough to send me over that delicious cliff with a loud groan.

"Gods, Harry." She whimpered as she collapsed in my arms.

"Happy Valentine's, love."

"Hmm, you too."

We continued kissing for a few seconds before Kreacher appeared to remind me of the time and bring fresh clothes for the both of us. For a second Ginny looked stunned at the elf, her face flushed red but thanked him for bringing fresh clothes.

"I still can't believe you didn't wear your knickers." I chuckled as I watched change her clothes.

"You loved it." She just shrugged.

"That I did." I laughed.

"People will notice us coming out of this room together." Ginny said as she heard a group of students lining up outside.

"I know, we will go under the cloak. Next is potions, right?"

"Yes."

"I have your book and potion kit here, master Harry." Kreacher piped up.

"What about mine?" Ginny asked.

"I'll be right back." Kreacher said with a bow and disappeared only to get back less than a minute later with Ginny's stuff.

We made it to potions in time, on the way there I saw a small dark niche, one I needed for after class if it was deep enough. Ginny sat with Hermione, while I sat next to Ron.

"Where have you been?" Ron hissed.

"Enjoying Valentine's day." I said as I pulled out the journal. I glanced over at Ginny and saw she had it already on her table and had her arms on it so she would notice when I would write to her.

_Give me an other fantasy._ I wrote down as Slughorn started his lecture. I saw Ginny open her journal and read my request, for a second her eyes flashed at me. When her focus returned to the paper she closed her eyes for a while, I wondered if she was imagining the scene of her fantasy. Slowly her face flushed and she opened her eyes, staring directly was me I noticed how dark with lust they had become in a very short time. This was going to be one I needed to remember. I watch as she dipped her quill in the ink and began to write.

_Every girls fantasy, having fun with ice-cream, in all sorts and flavors. _

I thought about it, sticky ice-cream could get messy, frozen water in all forms and sizes could indeed be an intense experience for her, I could imagine what the cold must feel like in and around her hot core, I wondered which one she had in mind.

_Any specific ideas of what you wanted to do with that ice?_

I saw her eyes flash at me, a soft sensual flush fell over her face again and her eyes darkened even more.

_I can think of a few, how about licking it of your dick, when he is cold I will warm you with my pussy. I can almost imagine how your cold dick would feel inside of me._

This time it was me who was squirming in my chair, I had, as precaution, selected trousers that were too big for me and had the cloak stuffed under my robes but still, like her I could very well imagine the idea. Suddenly my journal glowed and I looked down.

_Any fantasies of your own?_ She had written.

I thought about it for a while, I did have some nice ones indeed but many had to wait until we were out of school and I remembered the magazine Ron had given Hermione before Christmas to freak her out. All that would have to wait until after school.

_Having the Room of Requirement change into our ultimate pleasure room. I'm pretty sure that room would come up with some amazing ideas._ I scribbled down.

_Can we do that tonight, please!_

I chuckled, too bad I hadn't thought about that earlier, if I had I would have never agreed with Ron. He and Hermione were in for quite a night if he requested the right things.

_No, sorry Love, Ron and Hermione have that room tonight, we have other plans. Good ones._

_Can't wait._

I chuckled at her enthusiasm, today was indeed going to be fun.

When Slughorn called it quits for the day I waved Ginny over and waited until the class was empty.

"Get under." I whispered as I held out the invisibility cloak. She complied quickly, looking at me with too many questions in her eyes. It was lunch break time, so we had a bit of time. Kreacher would be waiting for us at the lake for a picnic but I had something else in my mind to do first.

I took her hand and guided her out of the classroom.

"Harry, where are we going?" she whispered.

"Shhh."

When we reached the niche I had spotted earlier I pulled her in and pressed her back against the wall. She started to speak but I silenced her with a deep passionate kiss. Her shock lasted only a second before she gave into the kiss and granted me access to her sweet little mouth.

I was still so hard from our written conversation that I ached for release, somehow I think Ginny felt the same because my trouser was hanging on my knees before I noticed her hands opening them. It was only than that I realized my hands were already pushing her skirt away and one of her legs were already wrapped around my leg.

"Please, Harry." She whimpered wantonly as she pressed herself against me. The roughness of her need send thrills down to my dick, the heat of her core pressed against me was enough to drive me crazy. I pulled her up and took her roughly, just how she likes it. Anything for my girl.

The picnic out by the lake was a good idea. Because the weather still cold and Kreacher to perform a whole bunch of spells to make sure we were warm, we were the only ones out but very comfortable.

Kreacher had served all kinds of small bites that we could share and a selection of warm cocoa, with different flavors like white chocolate, firewiskey, and caramel.

"How are you liking your Valentine's day so far?" I asked as she sipped her caramel flavored cocoa.

"It's very good." She whispered with a smile. "Have you made plans like these for the whole day?"

"If I would tell you, it would spoil the surprise." I told her.

"Can you tell me at least something?" Her eyes turned to the puppy-sadness I couldn't reject and I sighed, I'm such a push-over.

"Well, you won't be sleeping in the castle tonight, if you will be sleeping at all and I'm pretty sure you won't have time to do you homework today."

"Really, interesting." She smiled like the Cheshire cat. "So, why did you agreed with Ron and Hermione having the Room of Requirement? It could have been perfect for us."

"I know and we really should have thought sooner about our requests for that room but Hermione needs a night away from her homework and Ron wanted to make the night perfect, so I'm being the best friend ever."

Ginny laughed out loud, she looked so beautiful when she's laughing like that, her eyes were sparkling and her face was so relaxed. I couldn't help but staring at her.

"I'm going to bug Hermione into spilling details." She giggled.

"I don't have to bug, Ron will be gushing willingly." I groaned.

"Aww, poor boy. Does he really tell you everything?" she asked shocked.

"He only stops if I yell at him. I think I know about every detail that Rob finds interesting about Hermione."

"Care to share dirty details?" she asked sultry. My eyes shot up at her and almost groaned, I really didn't want to remember the overload of details Ron liked to share, it was almost like I had been there. It's more than I ever wanted to know about the pare of them and now this red headed minx in front of me wanted dirty details about something I wished to never dwell up on again.

"You are going to kill me." I groaned. "I rather just forget everything Ron has told me."

"Aww, please Harry. I want something to have on Hermione, something I could tease her with?"

How on earth was I going to say no to this girl, I don't think I'll ever be able to do that. With one blink of her eyes I sighed and gave in completely.

"Alright, you can be sure Hermione is quite creative in bed, Ron every time tells me how shocked he was by Hermione's new position."

Ginny snorted loudly, "I'm pretty sure that Ron's imagination doesn't go much further than the traditional positions."

"Gin, please stop, I really don't want to think about my best friends like that." I groaned.

"Ow, come on Harry, other people's sex life is fascinating, we might be able to learn something from it."

"You think I need to learn more?" I gasped in mock shock. Ginny hit me on my arm and giggled.

"Who knows. Maybe I need to learn a few things."

I growled and pulled her in a kiss.

"You don't need to learn anything." I whispered against her lips. Somehow the kiss became passionate, deeply and longing. I found my body covering her and her legs wrapped around mine. It felt just as new as it had done many months ago, every time she lay under me like this felt new, almost like my memory didn't do justice to the real thing.

She smiled up at me and her eyes searched mine.

"What are you thinking about?" she whispered.

"About how amazing you are. I love you."

"Love you too."

We stayed out for as long as we could but classes were calling Ginny in. She had a theory lesson on astronomy next while I had an other free hour.

"What are you going to do for your free hour?" Ginny asked as I walked her to her classroom.

"Writing." I shrugged.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking about writing my memoires." I chuckled.

"Be serious." She laughed.

I spun her around when we reached the door and kissed her.

"I have a very nice journal, I would like to write in it for the next hour or so." I whispered in her ear as I kissed the soft skin below it.

"I'm looking forward to that."

I smiled and walked away, I decided that the library would be a good place to write in that journal. It was very quiet in the library and I sat down in the back corner and opened the journal. I thought for a long time about what I wanted to write. I had planned to use the journal as a tool for a bit of foreplay but during lunch when I was laying over her I realized that I could use this to tell her so much more. Things I couldn't really tell her out loud, things for which I wasn't ready to say out loud but to start writing it down was almost equally difficult.

_Have I told you that I love you? Have I told you that you are beautiful? I can't remember if I ever told you that you are the most important thing in my life. I don't think I am telling you that often enough._

I didn't wait for her reply and took a deep breath.

_I remember meeting you, you were so shy, so sweet as you demanded your mom to let you go to Hogwarts. I remember your first year at school, it must have been a terrible year for your, maybe even more than it was for me. I don't think I have ever told you how scared I was in that chamber, I was so afraid that you would die, that I wasn't quick enough. It was a great feeling when I saw you wake up. Back than I saw you as my own sister and I just couldn't stand loosing you._

_I really hate myself for being too distracted to really notice you, how great you are. Every school year there seemed to be something more important but now I know there will never be anyone more important than you. Don't get scared, I'm not going to propose through a journal._

I chuckled as I imagined her reaction and than I wondered.

_I wonder why you are so opposed to the idea, is it because you think you are too young? Is it that you are still afraid that I would leave you again? Or is it something completely else? I just can't help but wonder. I have the whole idea in my head already. When the moment is right and believe me, I already know when that is, I'll get down on one knee for you and beg you to say yes._

I sighed as I watch the letters fade, I had only been in the library for thirty minutes, it was time for the hard stuff and get it over with.

_I feel the need to apologize to you, you know me, I would want to apologize for every bit of pain you went through but I know you wouldn't except it so I do so for some specific things. Please don't get angry with me. I apologize for leaving you last year. I know my reasons and I know you know them but if I had to do it over I could never leave you behind again. During those days the idea of you being safe kept me sane. I should have known you were never be completely safe. The hearing against Mrs. Carrow made that painfully clear. _

_I apologize for blowing up at you, for every time I got angry with you or when I get angry with you in the future. I hope you realize that it's only my irrational worried part that does that, I know I have to learn to control it but it's hard._

_Before the final battle I could get angry, in rage even and I had no control over my emotions, after facing Tom on last time I feel free, happy and at peace. The only thing that could get me angry now is you being in danger, the fear that you could be taken away from me. From what Sirius and Remus told me it's much like how my dad felt about my mom, I think you just have to learn to live with it._

_Strangely all my emotions feel new to me, never ever I had expected to love somebody so much but you make me feel it, I also never expected to feel my magic flowing freely in my body, it's almost stronger than I am. Sometime it's difficult to deal with, the power, the rawness and the shakiness of it. I feel like a whole new me and it's taking me a long time to find out who that new person is._

_I want to tell you so much more, about myself, or my former self, things I'm sure you don't know yet. I want to tell you in detail, what happened that year and what happened in the forest, even what I saw in Snape's memory and I will some day soon but until than believe me that I love you, more than anything._

I closed my eyes as I finished my last word, I still felt that it didn't do justice to what I was really feeling but ever since Tom Riddle killed me for the second time my emotions, thought and magic has been a bit of a jumble. Sometimes I really couldn't describe what I was feeling or I couldn't name it and as I wanted Ginny to know everything I didn't know how to explain it all.

Suddenly the journal got warm and I quickly looked down.

_You silly man, you got me crying._

I smiled down at the page, I felt sorry that she was crying in class but even through the letters on the page I could see her indulgent smile.

_That wasn't the intention, in a few minutes you class will be finished, Kreacher will be waiting for you, let him take you to me._

I gathered my things quickly and headed to the empty classroom on the second floor. If everything had gone to plan Kreacher had been creating a nice setting in that classroom for us to spend a free hour before Transfiguration.

When I opened the classroom door I was resolving on finding a way to properly thank Kreacher for all his help. He had created a small area in the corner for us, it was decorated with dark red drapes and pillows to sit on, small bits of food were set on a small side table.

A soft crack announced Kreacher's arrival.

"Is everything okay, master Harry?"

"Yes, you did wonderful. I have to think of better ways to thank you because words just don't seem enough." I smiled at the little elf.

"Kreacher is happy to serve his master." The elf bowed and disappeared to get Ginny. It only took him a minute or two. Ginny appeared next to him looking utterly bewildered. Once her eyes met mine she was running towards me. I had only a second to brace myself and catch her as she jumped into my arms.

"Oh Harry." She whimpered. "I love you so, so much."'

I held her in my arms for a long time, just enjoying the feeling of her in my arms. After a while I picked her up and took her to the seating Kreacher had created. I tried to release her as I placed her on the pillows but she refused to let go.

"I'm not going anywhere, love." I whispered. She shuddered and sighed.

"I know, I just got a bit emotional."

"I know what you mean and I'm sorry I shouldn't have let that loose on you like that."

"No, it's okay, I really like to know how you feel, it just got me off guard." She sighed and released me. It was the first time she looked around and smiled as she took in the setting.

"You have crazy plans." She sighed.

"I had really crazy plans but I think for now we should settle for some easy time and enjoy the food Kreacher got us."

She smiled and nodded.

I had planned this day to be one of physical pleasures, to love her and make love to her as she wanted but after opening the emotional door I couldn't pounce on her. It would have been wrong, so we settled for enjoying the food together, feeding each other, laughing and sometimes answering deeper questions. At the end of the hour I remembered the gift I had been planning to give her.

"I have something for you." I whispered as I pulled a small square out of my pockets. "It's a small part of everything I want to give you. I found it in the London house and I want you to read it."

I whispered the spell and the journal became its original size. With a smile I gave it to her.

"What is it?"

"It's the last of my father's journals, it described my first year through his eyes. During Christmas Trinkle showed me a large stack of journals all written by my father. I haven't read them yet but I wanted you to have that one."

"Why?" she asked shocked.

"Because you know me better than I know myself, it is only fair that you are the first one to gain that knowledge about me. How cute I was as a baby and how scared my dad was of me."

"Are you sure?" she asked, I could see in her eyes that she was still not completely convinced.

"Yes, I want you to read it first."

She smiled at me and pulled me in a hug. It was only than that I realized that we needed to hurry if we wanted to be in time for class. We quickly gathered our things and ran to Transfiguration.

The lesson was very straight forward, Elian was introducing us to the theory behind an Animagus and how to become one. By the rapid expression on Ginny's face I could see she was really interested the whole thing. I wasn't, I opened the journal and started to write again, I hoped she wouldn't be angry with the distraction. She could read it when Elian gave us time to read and take notes.

_I wonder if you are already curious about our plans for tonight. I bet you am. I asked Kreacher to set up something for us. I think the elf has a romantic side to him because he started flinging ideas at me, all very good but I selected the one I think you would enjoy without it being too much._

I glanced at her as I heard her gasp, she looked down at the journal, glared at me and returned her attention to Elian's class. I smiled and wondered how quickly she would get too curious and look.

_Should I ask Kreacher for ice-cream? I know Ron gave Hermione a interesting magazine before Christmas, shall I have Kreacher get something out of that to have fun with tonight? Or do you want me to worship every inch of your skin? Tonight it will be yours._

It took quite a while before Elian gave us the pages to read through and take notes from them. I opened my book and start to work, Ginny on the other hand opened the journal and started to read. After a few minutes my journal grew warm.

_Yes, I am curious and I really hope our night includes dessert but are you going to be able to handle it?_

I chuckled as I looked at her, she had that dangerous twinkle in her eyes.

_I'm sure I can handle anything you throw at me. I can see in your eyes that you have some playful ideas._

I watched her scribbling down an answer.

_Oh, plenty ideas, too little time. Speaking of a magazine Ron gave Hermione, would you be open to those kind of toys?_

I stared at the page as it turned blank, was I? I like to think that I am open to any sort of things that would create more fun but I couldn't really imagine some fake cock being brought into our game. I wondered if she did, or if she had other ideas.

_Anything specific in mind?_ I scribbled down.

_I'm not sure if I can write that down, it makes me blush and Elian would notice but those small vibrating things looked like fun._

I swallowed and closed my eyes, I was fighting the deep red blush I felt coming as I could clearly imagining us playing with something like that. I didn't know much about sextoys but I could imagine the fun we could have with that. I heard Ginny chuckle.

Lost in my thoughts somehow the class seemed to have flown by and Elian called it quits before I had even read one page of the assigned chapter.

I glanced out the window and noticed it was growing dark already. With all my focus on Ginny I hadn't even noticed I missed a whole day of Ministry news. To be honest I didn't really missed it, there wasn't a worry pounding in my head or a strategy to catch Greyback popping up in my head, I felt somehow relieved that I didn't know what was going on.

"You were right." I whispered in awe as Ginny walked up next to me.

"I usually am, about what this time?" she chuckled.

"That I can let go of my ministry obsession, I haven't even thought about it today."

"How do you feel about it?"

"Relieved, actually. It doesn't really bother me that I don't know what is going on, which is really strange for me but it feels good not to worry about anything either."

Gin smiled brightly and kissed me quickly.

"See, you will get used to it one day."

"Yes, I think so. Now, come with me before Kreacher gets worried, he is waiting for us to serve dinner."

I threw the cloak over us both and took her out the castle. To my surprise she didn't ask were we were going or why we were outside the castle but as I glanced at her face the questions were clearly visible. I chuckled as she raise her eyebrow at me.

As we walked around the green houses I thought about the things Sirius had told me about his days at school, about the many girls he shagged against the glass panels. I had been wondering if Ginny would have liked it much but I took it that our love was a bit more romantic that Sirius's shags.

"Harry?" Ginny asked as we rounded around the green houses and entered a secluded part of the ground.

"Shhh, Gin, just wait. We are almost there."

It was only a minute or so further when we reached the small meadow in the forest. I had seen it a while ago when flying off some energy, back than the sun was just coming up and it looked like a beautiful calm place.

"Close your eyes." I whispered as I stopped her. She looked up at me but complied. Carefully I kissed her and took her hand. "Step closer to me." Without hesitation she did and I pulled her up into my arms, holding her bridal style.

"Harry, what are you doing?" she giggled.

"Making sure you don't fall down before we reach our destination."

"I could just walk, you know?"

"Yes but if you watch it will ruin the surprise. Keep your eyes closed."

I kissed her nose lightly before walking towards the tent. From the outside it looked simple and old, I didn't want her to see that part of the setting, it was anything but romantic.

Kreacher held the tent entrance open so that I could walk in with out trouble or having to let go of Ginny.

"Can I look already?" Ginny asked impatiently.

"Not yet, just a few seconds more." I chuckled and walked her over to the center of the tent where a king size roman style bed was standing, I carefully laid her down.

"Keep your eyes closed, love." I whispered as I untied her shoes and pulled them off. I put them next to the entrance and returned to the bed, I sat down and untied my shoes and used a banishing charm to place them next to Ginny's pair. I moved to lay down next to her and kissed the tip of her nose again. I slowly kissed a path along her jaw and up to her ear.

"Open your eyes." I whispered in her ear as I nibbled the skin below. I heard her gasp at the things she saw. Kreacher had taken romance back to Rome, ancient Rome to be more precise. I had the feeling that Julius Cesar's palace hadn't looked so good, maybe the temple of Vesta. Kreacher had placed spells that made everything look like marble, a small table was set in front of the bed, around it to cushioned chairs, at the left side of the bed as a bath with scented water and everywhere white drapes hang from the ceiling. Kreacher even enchanted the sides of the tent to resemble the views of ancient Rome.

"Wow." Ginny breathed.

"That's what I said when I saw it this afternoon." I chuckled.

"Kreacher did an amazing job."

"Thank you, mistress Ginny." Kreacher piped up when he came walking around the bed with a tray of food. "Food is ready, master Harry."

"Yes, thank you."

"Kreacher will be back to serve dessert." The elf said, bowed and disappeared.

"It smells delicious." Ginny said as she sniffed the air. "Can we eat?"

"Yes." I laughed, "Of course we can but I have to warn you, Kreacher put a spell on this place."

"Oh, what kind of spell?"

"A very advanced one, apparently when your bare feet hit the floor you'll be dressed in style with the rest of the setting."

"We'll be dressed in white tunics and toga's than." Ginny sighed. I looked at her in surprise, I had learned about ancient Rome in muggle primary school but I still had to ask Kreacher what the style of clothing it would contain, it surprised me that Ginny just knew.

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"Oh, easy. The Romans, at least most of them, were skilled wizards. Their way of living is a part of the wizarding kids education, isn't it the same with muggles?"

"Yes but not about the clothing and all, just dates."

"Oh, mum just would go on and on about how life in ancient Rome was." Ginny laughed and jumped of the bed. As soon as her feet reached her clothed disappeared and were replaced by a simple white dress that seemed to flow around her like water. I gasped at her beauty, the white with her pale freckled skin and red hair was absolutely stunning.

"Aren't you hungry, darling?" Ginny asked me as she turned to me. I felt my mouth open but it didn't close, I noticed my mind went blank and I couldn't seem to restart it again, she was like a goddess.

"Harry is something wrong?"

It was like I was in a dream, even her voice sounded dreamlike. Luckily I found at least some of my sense again.

"You are beautiful." I was able to whisper.

She chuckled and blushed, it was the first time she looked down as what she was wearing. I think she was pleased as well. After a second of inspection she held out her hand to me.

"I'm really hungry, please." She begged.

I sighed and took my eyes off her, it almost hurt, and got up. I felt a tingling sensation as my feet hit the floor. I glanced down at Kreacher's charm work. Although the toga was alright I noticed much to my annoyance the ancient Romans didn't use underwear. Well the annoyance stayed until I realized that the same would hold true for Ginny. I smiled a goofy smile at her.

"You look rather stunning yourself, Harry." She whispered, her eyes darkened and that lusty sparkle appeared.

To my relieve we made it through dinner without attacking each other. The sexual tension was building rapidly but I had plans and a lusty, rough and quick release would ruin them.

We used the time at the table to talk about the future, even though it was just to keep us focused on other things.

"Ginny, why are you so afraid of me proposing to you?" I asked as I tried to think about other things than the way her breast looked through the white dress.

She looked at me for a long time, slowly chewing her food and taking her time to sip on her wine. I could see by the way she prolonged her answer that it was a difficult topic.

"It has nothing to do with you Harry, I need you to know that." She whispered.

"I know, love, I know, I was just wondering what about marriage got you so worked up."

She bit her lip as she looked directly at me. I wondered if it was something like a painful memory, her eyes looked like she was in pain to even think about it. On a impulse I pulled her onto my lap and wrapped my arms around her.

"Whatever you are thinking you can tell me, love, I won't judge you for your thoughts. If you don't ever want to get married we stay just as we are now. I love you no matter what." I whispered in her ear. I felt her breath calm like she just had been hyperventilating and with an other sigh she opened her mouth.

"It's just, my mom always pressed on the fact that a wife should be there for her husband in every way, keep the house clean, make dinner and bare his children. Mum loves dad very much and would do anything for him but she never had her own life, she has always been caring for dad and than her children. I don't want that, I want to live first, see things, play Quidditch for a few years."

"Gin, sweetheart, how many times do I have to tell you, I want everything you want for you. I don't expect to have children nine months after we get married, I'm not even sure if I'm ready for that. If you are happy than I'm happy besides we have two house-elves, the two of them can keep house pretty well."

"You are right." Ginny sighed. "It's just I'm not really house wife material, I'm too much like Fred and George, I just want to live free."

"As long as I fit in that free picture I'm happy."

"Of course you fit in that picture." Ginny said with a smile and kissed me sweetly.

"I'm going to propose to you, just as I had in my mind ever since Halloween. You don't have to worry about it for this year." I whispered against her lips. I felt them turn into a smile and let them attack me. Her tongue brushed over my lips begging for entrance, for a second I thought of teasing her and not react but her tongue just felt to good and I opened my mouth with a soft groan.

My let my hands roam over her back and bottom. I felt her whimper when I brushed her sensitive areas. Normally my fingers would encounter the hem of her panties but I noticed that she, like me, wasn't wearing underwear, my initial idea about Roman clothing had been correct.

I chuckled softly as I remembered that she had banned her panties from the start of this day.

"Why are you laughing?" She asked with a husky sexy voice.

"Your panty ban." I whispered as I let my tongue brush the base of her neck.

"I'm practical." She chuckled.

"Very."

Her hands were doing thing to me that a toga couldn't hide, especially when she shifted to straddle my lap. I saw a dirty grin appear on her face as she noticed my growing arousal. It was hard to remember my original plans as she was rubbing against me but I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her up. She was as light as a feather, slim and not very tall, although I wasn't really big on muscles I was happy that I could carry her to the bed easily.

"I want you to lay down." I whispered as I kissed a trail down her neck. There was a broche on her shoulder that held the dress together, I slowly loosened it. As I placed the broche on the table her dress fell loose, it revealed her naked upper body.

She eyes followed me as I pulled the dress of her.

"What about dessert?" she asked.

"Kreacher will bring it in a few minutes, I don't want you to worry about it. You'll love it. Now let me love you." I whispered as I kissed the soft skin of her belly. "Close your eyes." I told her, without arguments she complied. "Keep them closed until I say you can open them, if you open them before that I'll have to blindfold you."

Under my hands I felt her shiver in anticipation. I heard Kreacher approach and looked up to see him bring in dessert. Silently he placed the frozen dish on the nightstand and bowed. I nodded at him and he disappeared. I took a sip of the ice cold water to cool my mouth and turned back to the goddess next to me.

I bend down and licked her hard nipple. I felt my cold tongue brushing her warm nub.

"Oh, gods." Ginny whimpered.

"Keep your eyes closed, love."

I sucked and nibbled on her nipple for a few minutes, my hands were brushing her stomach and kneading her other breast. I love to listen to the whimpering sounds she makes when I touch her like that. I released her nipple as took an other sip of the freezing water.

She moaned loudly as I placed my cold mouth on her other breast. I gave her breasts all the attention they deserved before trailing a path of kisses down to the trimmed patch of hair that covered her mount.

"Harry." She whispered. "please."

I smiled up at her but didn't hurry to give her the release she begged for. I slowly massaged the inside of her tights, my tongue followed the path of my fingers. Slowly I opened her legs and revealed her most sensitive and pleasurable place. I took a second to marvel at her beauty, she was already so wet that small drops of her honey glistened in her hair and covered the inside of her tights.

Slowly I ran one finger through her wet folds, they were so hot it felt like it burned my finger.

"Do you trust me?" I asked as I kissed her breast again.

"Of course." She moaned.

"Than keep you eyes closed and enjoy."

I turned to the large plate Kreacher brought and took the ice cream from the tray. I asked Kreacher just to freeze some water in the shape of a normal ice cone but I think Kreacher knew what I was up too because it was a bit longer and thicker.

I smiled a bit as I imagined Ginny's reaction to this. I slide my left hand over her folds, pressing them open to expose her nerve bundle. I slide my tongue over it.

"Gods!" she mewled.

I repeated the action a few times until I was sure she was completely lost in her pleasure. I shifted a bit so I could see her entrance and held the stick of frozen water in front of it. Slowly I brushed her heated entrance with the ice cone.

"Fuck!" she yelled as she made to jump up.

"Shhh, love, trust me, if it gets too much let me know."

"What is it?"

"Something you get to play with when I'm done with you."

She relaxed and brushed her fingers over my leg. I took it as a sign to continue and kissed her lower lips again, breathing warm air over them before I slid the stick of frozen water of her bud. I was relieved to hear her moan and whimper.

I continued switching the cold off with the warmth of my tongue. Very soon Ginny started to twitch and making strange new noises. Her rough deep groans vibrated through my body straight to my cock. I was more than ready to slam into her and relieve myself from the painful pressure.

I took a deep breath and tried to relax a bit, I didn't want to loose any of my control now.

"Harry, please!" she screamed again when I nibbled on her clit. "I need to come, please."

I smiled and sat down on my knees in front of her flower, it flittered through my mind that I should take her but I held back and slowly pressed the thick ice cream against her entrance. I waited for her to react to it, she seemed completely lost in her whimpers and pressed against the frozen cone of ice. Carefully not to hurt her I slid the cone into her core. It was thicker and longer than my cock so I wasn't really sure how much of it she could take. As I pushed the thing deeper and deeper into her I watched for signs of pain or tension on her face.

A sharp intake of breath from her told me I reached the boundary between pleasure and pain. I pulled the ice cone back and she relaxed. I smiled softly and I repeated the action, careful not to got too far. After a minute or so she began to whimper and moan.

"Harry. Please." She continued to repeat.

""What is it, love?" I asked her. I really loved it when she talked during her moments of bliss, she could talk so dirty and so sexy, it was something that made me loose it all.

"So cold." She whimpered as I pushed the ice cone back into her core.

"Not good?"

"Yes. Yes. So good but so cold." Her voice grew higher and higher. I could she by the look on her face that she was getting close. When she moaned my name again I lost it and threw away the ice and pushed my cock into her.

"Harry!" she screamed as I pushed her over the edge. I pumped into her a few times to let her ride out her orgasm but I focused on not releasing my own, I wanted to save it for her to have fun with. When she collapsed I pulled out of her and wrapped my arms around her.

We lay in silence for a while, I listened to Gin's breathing as it slowly became calmer. It helped me to keep my mind of my throbbing cock that still pressed against her. When I shifted a bit she opened her eyes.

"I love you." She whispered hoarsely. I felt her hand brushing my side, her thumb making small circles on my hip bone. Slowly Ginny recovered from her exhausting high. I watched her eyes darting over the table when Kreacher had placed the ice cream, a sexy smile formed around her lips and her eyes flashed dark.

"Dessert." She whispered as she licked her lips.

"You want some?" I asked.

"Yes, let me get it."

She pushed me down and crawled over me to the side table. I watched as she looked over the different flavors of ice cream. I was surprised when she got out of the bed and walked over to her clothes. She searched through them and after a second pulled out her wand. When she turned back to me her face was covered in an evil dirty smile, her eyes were dark with lust as she pointed her wand to me.

"Now relax." She whispered. The last thing I saw was the movement of her wand, only seconds later my eyes were covered with something silky. I gasped as I felt something jerk on my arms and quickly I realized that my arms were bounded above my head with silk like robes.

"Gin?"

"Trust me, Harry."

And with that my feet were bound as well, leaving my body completely exposed and open for her. I wiggled to see how tightly I was bound. It was tight but not uncomfortable, the dirty little minx had a game in her mind.

I shivered as I felt her nails scrapping the insides of my tights, she didn't waste much time with other body parts as her hands steadily moved towards my aching cock. Spots of bright lights flashed behind my eyes has her hands wrapped around me, slowly creating friction.

As soon as it she gave me her hands she took them away. I moaned against the loss.

I heard the sounds of a plate being moved it was followed by a shock of cold on my chest.

_Gods, that tongue_.

My bliss with her tongue roaming my chest as she licked up the ice cream was brutally interrupted by something extremely cold that was being dropped on the head of my cock. I was so shocked I tried to sit up but was roughly remembered by the ropes that tied me to the bed. I heard her chuckle.

"Trust me, Harry. I'm having dessert." Ginny whispered sultry in my ear. I took a few gasps of breath before I could relax.

And then I was in heaven. Her tongue was licking at the ice cream on my cock, every time brushing my sensitive skin. It was slow torture, it wasn't enough to completely loose it but enough to has me whimper.

"Gods, Gin."

"I like the Harry flavored ice cream." She whispered.

It felt like my body exploded when she wrapped her lips around my cock, her mouth was so fucking hot, especially after the cold ice. She sucked and licked like never before, it was a good thing she had tied my legs before I would have been moving too much and I was itching to grab hold of her hair, to touch her. The rope around my hands became annoying and torture as she slowly drove me insane.

"Oh, Gin, oooooooh."

She took me deep into her mouth, deeper than ever before I felt the head hit the back of her throat, what was left of my cock was being massaged by one of her hands while the other softly played with my balls. I knew I wasn't going to last much longer.

"Gin, I'm coming." I moaned. I expected her to pull away, even straddle me and let me spill inside her but she started to suck harder and moaned softly, sending vibration into my cock that made me twitch.

"Oh, gods, I'm coming." I groaned again. She licked her tongue around the rim of the head before scrapping her teeth over the length of my cock. The pain balanced the pleasure it gave and I fell over that beautiful cliff again, screaming her name as I went.

When I came back to the world I noticed she was still licking me. The blindfold and ropes were gone and I was able to look down at her. She smiled up at me and crawled along my body to lay on top of me.

"I really, really love the Harry flavored ice cream."

I laughed and pulled her close to me.

"I love you, did you know that." I told her as I kissed her lips. It was strangely erotic to taste myself on her lips and although I was exhausted it made my cock twitch again.

"I love you too."

She kissed me deeply and her small hand started to roam my body again. I felt it slowly move lower and lower until it wrapped around my hardening cock again.

"Again?" I asked her.

"I will never get enough of you." She said with a smile.

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**I live for review, you guys/girls have already been so great but please review again...**


	40. Memorial Victoire Part 1, Speeches

_**First I want to apologize for a mistake I made, I just realized that I had Fleur pregnant a year too early. According to JK Victoire is born on the second anniversary...as Victoire isn't the major character in my story I won't change it... but before you all start pointing it out know I noticed it.**_

_**an other point is that I'm almost at the 400 reviews. THANKS YOU ALL SO MUCH!**_

_**This chapter should have been really long but it would have been a monster to read so I cut it in half and post the first part now...I hope you all will like it...**_

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**40. Memorial Victoire part 1, Speeches**.

Okay, I have to admit Valentine's day had been pretty spectacular. Harry had created a day of pure bliss. I felt loved, adored and wanted by him, a feeling that lingered in my body. I never ever would doubt his devotion to me ever again.

It was a much needed day of peace and quiet because the NEWTS were coming up rather quickly and the teachers made sure we never forgot that. Hermione was getting snippy as the days grew longer, it was normal for her but even Harry and I started to feel the pressure of all the homework.

During a rare break Ron told us that he had managed to get Hermione away from her studies on Valentine's day for an evening. They had an amazing time from the sound of it but the time away from her studies it made Hermione only more determined to study twenty-five hours in a twenty-four hour day, she worked relentlessly.

She only took time off when we threw a welcome back party for Luna. The blond girl came back to school a week after Valentine's day. Her stay at the hospital had been a bit shorter than expected and she got better far more quickly that the healers thought. All in all I was really relieved that she was back and I was extremely happy to see that Charlie escorted her to school. From the few letters I got from my brother I understood that he had been really worried about Luna and that he convinced her to spend Easter with him in Romania. I had the feeling that he was never going to let her out of his sight again.

Anyway, we threw a big welcome back party for Luna and Hermione attended for only an hour. Although Luna didn't blame her and said that studying was going to be important for the next few months I was pretty upset with Hermione for leaving her friend like that. It took Harry more than a few kisses to get the anger out of me. Sirius really would have been proud of his godson.

The approaching NEWTS were taking up everybody's time and with all the studying I barely had time to train the team but we found at least two evenings a week to train a few hours. My days were quickly becoming hectic as I followed my lessons, studied and trained, they were flying by so fast that Easter was approaching before I knew it.

Colleen kindly remembered me that the weekend before Easter would be our last match, it was against Ravenclaw, of course, the team that was second behind us for the house cup. I was a bit worried but we had the strongest team and we were well in the lead for the cup, still I knew somebody from the Harpies would be there and they came to see if Colleen and I were improving. I knew it made Colleen nervous and a nervous keeper was never good.

After the match I wondered why I had been worried in the first place, we smashed Ravenclaw and took the house cup without even getting tired. As a surprise Gwen had invited the whole team to watch the match, after that they stayed to celebrate the cup. They didn't stay very long but we and the rest of the house had a lot of fun talking and partying with them. We celebrated all weekend, we only slept because McGonagall herself came to tell us to shut it.

The Easter holidays were nice and quiet. Instead of taking the train home McGonagall had given us permission to apparate back home from Hogsmeade. It saved us time, which Hermione begged for so she could spend the afternoon in the library. It was a miracle that Hermione was leaving Hogwarts at all, so we didn't complain about an afternoon.

We apparated back to the Burrow and as my feet landed on solid ground I smelled the scent of dinner in the air, mom was cooking. Ron ran towards the house following his nose. He was already eating when we came into the kitchen. To my great surprise he was accompanied by Fleur.

"Ginny, Hermione, Harry, eetz so nice to see you all." she said happily. She moved to get up and bumped against the table.

"Fleur careful." My mom chipped. Mom was right of course, Fleur was getting big with her baby belly. I hugged her quickly and sat down next to her.

"How are you doing, Fleur?" Harry asked as he gave her a hug as well.

"I'm ugly and fat." Fleur complained.

"Nonsense, you look beautifully pregnant." Hermione said as she kissed her future sister in law on the cheek.

"Thanks, Hermione. Sometimes I just feel really fat." Fleur sighed.

"How is my niece or cousin doing?" I asked.

"Good, only a few weeks left. He or she is kicking healthily around. Bill is getting excited."

"And you?"

"I'm scared but Molly is telling me not to worry. I just can't help it, I don't know anyzing about babies."

"You'll be a great mother, Fleur. I know you will." I told her. "Besides by the time the little sprout is born we'll be almost out off school and we will be able to help you."

"That would be nice." Fleur smiled.

Dinner was very nice as the whole family had showed up, including Fred's spirit. Mom had been so angry with the twins but after a while she had excepted it and now enjoyed talking to Fred again. He was welcome in the Burrow and enjoyed the pranks he could pull on us when he was hiding in a wall or something. Harry had gone as far as comparing him with Peeves.

"How are things at the auror department, Harry?" Percy asked. His focus with work had lessen but still he couldn't resist talking about the ministry.

"All right." Harry shrugged. "Kingsley and Arn are working hard to find Umbridge as she holds a lot of information on exiled muggle-borns and traitors to the regime. She has fled along with the Death Eaters who got away, I never trusted her but this is going very far. They are focusing on her now and have appointed a task force to round up the last of the Death Eaters and aggressive werewolves."

"On which one are you focusing?" my dad asked.

"None, really. I'm just going through the training and sometimes help with raids or gathering of evidence but besides that I'm enjoying my stay at Hogwarts."

"It's been a real big change. Harry is now more at Hogwarts than at the ministry." Hermione put in.

"Good, you were overworking yourself, Harry. You have your whole live to hunt for dark wizards." Mom said sternly.

Besides hearing Fleur complain about being fat and Hermione complain about us not studying enough the Easter holiday was lovely. The weather held up nicely and we spend a lot of time on broomsticks. Harry just loved flying and I loved watching him so happy and it was a good way to get away from Fleur and Hermione.

We took two days to visit Grimmauld place and the Summer house. As much as I love my mother it was nice not to have her around all the time. We both needed the space our own houses provided, mum could be very constricting, especially with Harry. Her concern for his well being was ridiculous.

Harry had decided to remodel Grimmauld place so that it would be a comfortable safe-heaven and clubhouse for the Order and the D.A. He had me agree with his plans as he rambled through them but in the end all he wanted was a nice homey place.

Harry and I arrived at the Summer house on Thursday late afternoon, that morning we had spend in London writing down for Kreacher what needed to be done to make the Black family house feel homey. To lighten his load we took the rest of the morning and early afternoon doing the really big projects. Kreacher was happy to help and promised as we left shortly before dinner that he would have the house done like we wanted it before we returned from school.

"We should ask Kingsley to set up a new fidelius charm." Harry said as we walked up to the house.

"For Grimmauld place you mean?"

"Yes, I would like to have it as a meeting place for DA and Order members, we would only allow people we trust in, just like this house."

"Who is going to be secret keeper than?"

"You and me."

"Is that even possible, including two people in the charm?"

"Yes, I read about it, it should be possible."

Through out the evening we had all these kind of conversations, just normal day discussion. It went from Teddy, to Fleur's baby, to us living together after Hogwarts. As we painted the future of our lives it became more and more colorful. We had so many plans and many ideas.

We ate outside in the orchard and walked around the gardens until it was getting dark.

The next morning Harry left early to help Arn with a case. I took my time to sleep in and enjoyed waking up slowly, without class waiting for me or mum yelling to come down. Drooble had laid out a beautiful grey dress for me. I sighed as I watched myself in the mirror, I looked grown-up.

Mentally I grew up during the war, or at least I lost my innocence but I never really considered growing up, being an adult, like the lady of the house Drooble was turning me into.

I never really imagined what it was to be an adult but I rather was enjoying the feel of being in my own house. Eating breakfast when I want to, receiving guests when they arrived, working and running a household.

For work I am going to play Quidditch, which would mean that I would need to train, work out, stay in shape, report at the pitch in time, do press days and play matches, it would be a busy schedule but I could imagine being happy living like that.

I went down to get something to eat and was met by Drooble at the bottom of the stairs.

"Good morning, mistress Ginny."

"Good morning Drooble."

"Master Harry told me to send you his love."

"Thanks." I smiled at the elf.

"Drooble has set up a breakfast table in the rose garden, it's warm outside."

"Thanks, I'm hungry." I smiled and followed Drooble out to the most stunning garden ever. The well pruned rose bushed were just starting to grow the leaves and beginnings of flowers but it was already beautiful with all the fresh green. Drooble had set a very nice table in a sunny corner, with tea, bread, toast, eggs and jam, next to the plate lay the Daily Prophet.

"Call if you need anything, mistress Ginny." Drooble said and apparated back to the house. I took a deep breath and sighed, I really enjoyed this. I set down and helped myself some breakfast. When I was sipping my tea I picked up the Prophet. A big picture of Greyback covered the front. The headlines had been the same since the attack in Hogsmeade. The whole community is asked to look out for the werewolf. Small articles about laws, Umbridge and Death Eaters littered the other pages, even Rita had a column again, just to gossip. It looked like slowly life was getting settled in a normal peaceful place.

"Mistress Weasley?" I heard Drooble squeaked next to me.

"Yes."

"You have a visitor. Would you meet him here or in the living room?"

"Who is it?"

"The minister for magic." Drooble whispered shyly.

"Kingsley? He can come here."

A short while later Drooble came back with Kingsley shortly behind him. It was a bit strange to be the one to receive guests in my own house but I think I did graciously.

"Good morning, Kingsley." I welcomed him with a smile. "Please join me, have you had breakfast already?"

"I have, thank you." Kingsley said as he shook my hand.

"Can I offer you something to drink?"

"A cup of tea would be nice."

"Drooble?" I asked the elf to serve Kingsley. The elf bowed and went to get tea for Kingsley.

"This is such a beautiful house." Kingsley sighed. "I remember coming here when James and Lily were just married."

"Did you know James and Lily very good?"

"No, not well as I would have liked too. I just joined the Order when they got back from their Honeymoon. I was the new one but James was really nice to me, we had some good fun. At school I was two years up from them so we didn't see each other much."

"This house is so full with memories of them." I mused. "I still feel like I'm invading on their space."

"You'll get used to it." Kingsley smiled.

We stayed silent for a while and watched Drooble serve tea .

"Anything else, mistress Ginny?"

"No, thank you."

The elf bowed deep and disappeared. I turned back to Kingsley and thought about what to say. Harry considered Kingsley as a very good friend and I really liked the man very much but he was so wise and so much older than me, I felt a little intimidated.

"You must be wondering why I'm here." He chuckled.

"Yes, actually I was. I believe you have seen Harry as the ministry this morning already."

"I have, he is out with Arn."

"I know, Harry told me he would take one day this week to help out Arn. So why are you here?" I asked with a soft smile. I realized that he was here to talk to me and it felt a bit strange to be honest. It was like the more I thought about becoming an adult the more adults treated me like one. Strange.

"I wanted to ask you something without Harry knowing I did. So when he told me this morning that you were alone at the Summer house I took my chance." He laughed. "Did You know that next month is the anniversary of the battle and the end of the second war?"

"So soon already." I gasped.

"Yes, the year has raced by." Kingsley sighed. "Sometimes it feels like we aren't any further as we were the day after. Anyway, we are planning on an memorial service and party at Hogwarts."

"That's a nice idea." I nodded.

"Yes, we want to honor those who have fought for our freedom, those who have fallen and those who are now working hard to rebuild our world. During a meeting in the Wizengamot last week we decided to honor, Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione with an Order of Merlin First Class."

I gasped and dropped my jaw. "Really?"

"Yes, I think and with me many people that they deserve it. What I wanted to ask you is if you think Harry would appreciate it?"

"pffff." I sighed. I brushed a strand of hair out my face and glance at the horizon. "I don't know, really. You know that he doesn't like the whole public affair and the show around it. He is humble and doesn't like the spotlight. But… he has changed."

Kingsley nodded.

"Yes, he looks so much more like his father now, the way he holds himself and the way he just seems so much more confident in everything he does. His father was like that, he was raised to held his head up high, only his father got his head inflated regularly. Harry has the quietness and humbleness of his mother." Kingsley mused.

"I just don't know if he knows what it means for a wizard to get such a honor. The others will be over the moon though." I chuckled.

"I had planned on having loved ones giving a speech during the ceremony and handing them the Order of Merlin. It gives something personal to the whole thing. I hope that than Harry will appreciate the moment in the spotlight."

" I think he will, just let Hermione educate him on the Order of Merlin." I chuckled.

"Actually I was hoping you would do the speech for Harry. Hermione is doing it for Ron."

"Oh, really? Who else have you asked?" I tried to hide my shock but I think I failed miserably.

"Uhm, Hermione is doing the speech for Ron, Hermione's mother is doing it for her, I had to go through a lot of dirt to get that one approved and I asked Augusta Longbottom to do a speech for Neville."

"I think it's really nice that Neville gets honored as well. He has fought so hard and lost so much."

"Yes, I really had to push it with the Wizengamot because Neville did just as much and you and Luna did but he had always stood next to Harry without a question asked and never asked pity for but they all remember Alice and Frank." Kingsley said with a sad sigh. "The fact that he stood up so bravely against Voldemort in the end sealed the deal. Will you do it? For Harry?" Kingsley pressed.

"Yes, I do it for him but I really hate speaking in public. I'm not good at it."

"You'll do great." Kingsley said with a smile. "It will be a lovely service and party."

"I hope so."

Kingsley finished his tea, talking a bit about the new laws that were written at that moment. Most of them to prevent the wizarding community from exposing their selves to muggles and some of them were even internationally based. From what I understood he was quite pleased with the way things were slowly getting together and with Arn running the auror office and Harry supporting where he can they made a strong team.

"Once I get Hermione into the ministry to work with magical animals and creatures we will be as strong as possible." Kingsley said with a smile. "Still I have to do some work."

With that he got up and said goodbye, leaving me wondering what in the world I would say in a speech. I used the whole time that Harry was away to come up with something good but I couldn't put anything down on paper. When the Easter holiday ended and we returned to school I still hadn't thought of anything good.

At school life was getting really hectic, the NEWTS were arriving, slowly I started to feel the pressure of the exams coming. It wasn't strange to see the six of us studying until well after midnight in the library and our common room. Neville and Luna joined us as much as they could so that they could benefit from Hermione's hysterical lectures. We figured out the day after returning from the Easter holidays that her moments of hysterics and ramblings were actually very educative. She would ramble out all these facts that she thought we needed to know and after her outburst we knew them. Harry made it a sport to get her into such a state at least once every day.

With all the hectic of studying I wasn't able to write the speech I had promised to do. Annoyingly I couldn't ask Hermione for help because she would find out that the trio, so including her, were given the honors. So I did what any girl would do, turn to her best friend.

"Luna?" I asked as we walked back to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Yes?"

"Can you take a break from studying tonight and walk around the lake with me? I have something I wanted to ask you."

"Oh, yes. It would be nice to take a break, my head feels like exploding."

After dinner I told Harry I was going for a walk with Luna for a while. He immediately bought the excuse that I needed to clear my mind. Like always he told me to be careful but he didn't press the point with wanting to come with me. I kissed him swiftly and ran out with Luna.

"Gods, it feels good to be free if only for an hour or two." I laughed as we ran through the doors.

"Yes, it is. I like the outdoors. We are being locked up in the castle too much."

"Speaking of the outdoors, you never told me how your week with Charlie was."

I watched in glee as Luna blush, the Luna Lovegood blushed.

"It was really nice. Charlie is such a gentleman. He took me to say goodbye to my dad first and after that he took me to Romania. Did you know that he can cook?"

"Yes, he learned it from mom."

"He is really good at it. He cooked for me every evening. And so romantic! He would always lit extra candles and we ate on the porch of his small house. Oh, and the dragons, they were amazing."

"Mom would be pleased to hear that Charlie was romantic."

"She raised a real gentleman ." Luna smiled dreamily. She started over the lake for a while, her mind probably miles away in Romania. Suddenly she turned and smiled at me. "Did you want to know about me and Charlie or did you wanted to ask something else?"

"Ever observant." I chuckled. Slowly we walked up to the lake's edge and I turned left. "Can you keep a very big secret?" I asked her.

"Of course. From anyone in particular?"

"From everybody. You swear you will keep this a secret?"

"What ever you will tell me, I will keep silent, I swear it on the D.A."

I smiled and nodded at her. The D.A. is the most important thing in her life, well maybe now Charlie is but still Luna wouldn't betray her friends. I took a deep breath and started at the beginning.

"Kingsley, the ministry and McGonagall are organizing a big memorial and party for the anniversary of the final battle."

"Really? That's in two weeks."

"I know. It will be announced soon but it will be on invite only. Although I believe half the wizarding community in the UK is invited. Anyway the big secret is that certain members of the resistance are going to get special honors. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville are getting an Order of Merlin First class."

"Oh, that's so great. They really deserve it."

"I know. Kingsley came to visit me at the Summer house with Easter to talk to me about it. He wondered if Harry would appreciate the gesture."

"Do you think he will?" she asked.

"Yes, I wasn't sure at first because Harry feels so awkward about the attention but now I think he feels at home in our world enough to appreciate it, I just don't know about the unwanted press attention. Still Kingsley asked an other thing… he asked me to hand the Order to Harry with a speech."

"That's just plain scary." Luna gasped.

"I know." I groaned. "I have been thinking about what to say ever since but I can't seem to find something good."

"pfff." Luna sighed. "That's difficult. I take it, it has to be about Harry and about his services to our world but also about the meaning behind the Order of Merlin and something personal."

"That sums it up just right." I chuckled.

Luna walked in silence for a while, the wrinkles around her nose told me how deep she was thinking. I hoped she would come up with something useful.

"He means the world to me." Luna suddenly said, confusing the hell out of me. "Harry, I mean. He was the first one who offered me a true friendship. You were really nice to me but Harry closed the cap between nice and friendly first."

I nodded as I understood what she meant.

"I remember when he asked me to Slughorn's party. He was adorable, so shy and awkward. I was over the moon when he asked me though."

My eyes widened as she spilled her thoughts about Harry to me. I was surprised to say the least.

"Don't get me wrong, I never liked him like you do. To me he was the best guy in the world just because he talked to me. I was happy that somebody cared enough about me to ask me to a party but that is Harry, he would care about Voldemort himself if he showed even a little of remorse."

We both laughed at the possibility of that being true.

"I love Harry, Ginny, he is the brother I needed when I came to school, he is the friend that I can trust with anything and I'm sure that all his friends think the same way about him. You should refer to that in your speech because he didn't save our world for himself but for us, all of us."

"I know." I sighed. "That's it about him, he is always doing things for somebody else but never for himself." Luna nodded in agreement.

Luna did have a point, Harry was all about what other people needed and wanted, he always thought about his friends first. Still it didn't leave me with much to write about, I had the terrible feeling that this speech was going to be a disaster.

The second of May approached way too fast, the evening before the big party I watched Hermione scribbling franticly on a piece of parchment, my gut feeling was telling me that she was writing her speech for Ron. I glanced down at my piece of paper, I wasn't satisfied but it was the best I had come up with.

Still, speech ready or not I didn't get much sleep that night, I felt nervous and restless. We had decided to sleep in the Room of Requirement so that we would have a calm morning to get ready for the big memorial and party. I could tell that Harry was looking up against the memorial. He didn't fear it but he was dreading the speeches about all those we have lost. It had taken him a long time to fall asleep but well after midnight his soft snoring filled the air. I was happy that he got some sleep but it left me in silence with too much time to think about the coming day.

When the room began to lighten with the rising sun outside I had rewritten the speech at least a dozen times in my mind. I groaned as the room signaled it was time to get up, I was so tired and I knew I look liked crap.

"Harry." I hissed. "Come on, we have to get up." I pushed him around so that he faced me. His eyes were still closed but the smile around his lips told me he was awake. He wrapped his strong arms around me and pulled me closer to him.

"Let just stay here." He murmured.

"Love to do just that but they will expect you to be there today."

He groaned and buried his face in my hair.

"I so don't want to go."

"Me neither but they will drag us out anyway and mom will be here soon. She'll made a big fuss if she finds us like this."

Harry opened his eyes and sighed. He knew that Ron would tell mum where we were and she would find us completely naked in the same bed, in a room alone, in a school she considered safe for her daughter.

"You're probably right."

"Come on, it won't be that bad. You'll see Teddy again, it will be the last time we get to see Fleur pregnant and muttering about how ugly she looks. George probably has some prank planned."

"I just don't feel like partying today. It's just so surreal, I can't believe that a year ago around this time I cast the final spell of that war. I was dead on my feet and exhausted to the bone. An hour later we were counting bodies and searching for survivors."

"I know Harry but that's why today is so important, to remember. To remember everything, the loss, the pain, the confusion but also all the good things, the moment we got our freedom back. We paid a heavy price for that. You most of all."

He looked at me for a long time, his eyes were full of emotions. After a while he nodded.

"Again, you are right. You have to stop hanging out with Hermione." He sighed.

"What? Why?"

"Because you are getting too smart for your own good." He laughed and kissed me softly. Before the kiss could turn into something that we couldn't stop I pulled back.

"Later, we need to get ready."

Harry had asked Drooble to get us some dress robes for today, although I would have loved to shop for them myself, Drooble made my life so easy. His selections of robes were just perfect. For today he had selected a dark bleu dress, made from silk and lace, with a decorated corset and a robe that would go over it so it wouldn't be too sexy. To finish the look off he had bought a pair of light bleu dragon skin high heeled boots.

"God, Drooble sure got taste." I said as I watched myself in the mirror.

"Thank you, mistress Ginny." The house elf squeaked as he just appeared in the room. "Drooble is coming to help you with the corset and your hair." He explained.

"Oh, that is very nice."

"I asked him to help out with your robes but also with Fleur's and your mother's."

"Why?"

"Because Fleur was complaining about getting the perfect dress and getting dressed in general. Drooble had some very good ideas of how to dress a pregnant woman."

"Drooble dressed the Potter women for many years." The elf nodded. "Mistress Lily was very fussy about how she looked when she was pregnant."

"I bet she was." Harry chuckled.

Thirty minutes later we walked to the Great Hall were everybody would assemble. Besides the students and teachers I recognized familiar faces. Neville's grandmother, Andromeda and Teddy, Audrey, Katie, Angelina, Kingsley, Arn and a few other members of the auror team I had seen before.

"Ah Harry." Arn said happily as he spotted us. He was followed by a tall blond woman and a shorter but equally beautiful girl. "And Ginny, it's good to see you again."

"Hello Arn, it's good to see you too." I smiled as I shook his hand.

"Ginny, I wanted to introduce you to my wife and daughter. These are Evelin and Lauri."

I shook hands with both woman. They were very friendly but quickly distracted by all the other witches and wizards around them.

"What are they doing here?" I heard Ron growl as he brought us some juice and toast.

"Who?" I asked.

"The ferret-boy and his stuck-up-on-a-stick mom." Ron hissed as he pointed to two blond heads in the corner.

"Oh, I invited them." Harry said casually.

"What! Why?" Ron yelped.

"They were both just as much a victim of Tom as we were, neither of them choose the Death Eaters life, Narcissa was promised to Lucius, she didn't have a choice and Draco had never been taught anything different, if he questioned his father he would be punished, later when Tom came back it would be enough to get his family killed. They have suffered just as much as we have, they should be here." Harry explained and walked away to say hello to the two unwanted guests.

The whole hall felt silent as everybody watch Harry shaking hands with Narcissa and Draco, photographers snapped pictures rapidly. This was the first time Harry publically and openly forgave the Malfoy's for what they did. Everybody knew that this was history in the making.

"He's mental." Ron whispered.

I wanted to agree with him but Harry did the most noble thing he had ever done, he had shown the world that Narcissa and Draco were just people, a part of our community and soon they were all drawn into conversations and explanations.

After an hour of chatting and playing with Teddy we were all asked to go outside where the memorial service would be held. I was still holding Teddy in my arms as I sat down next to Harry, the little boy played with my hair and laughed loudly as it fell in his face. His hair slowly turned the same color as mine, it made Harry laugh loudly.

"It could be your son with hair like that." He chuckled softly. I blushed but enjoyed the little man too much to really care. We played until Kingsley walked up the stage and started the ceremony but before he finished his first sentence there was a massive explosion of fireworks through the tent. Colors dancing around, fire dragon flew over us and butterflies covered every inch of the white canvas. Slowly the butterflies arranged themselves in the names of those who had fallen for the good cause. Surprisingly Fred's name was missing.

Teddy was shaken by the loud explosion and was crying. First I panicked as I didn't know what to do with the wailing boy and looked at Harry, he held out his hands and took Teddy from me, the boy instantly fell quiet.

"It's okay, Teddy, your uncle George is being silly, you'll get used to it. These are just fireworks. Look." Harry murmured. His seeker skilled hand shot out and grabbed one of the many butterflies carefully and showed it to Teddy. "Be careful they are warm." Harry whispered as the boy reached out to touch the butterfly.

After the people around us recovered from the shock and went quiet again Kingsley tried again to start the ceremony. The words he said I'm sure were beautiful but seeing him speak to all those people made me nervous. In a few minutes I would be up there, I couldn't help but feel nervous. I missed the majority of his speech as I ran over my words in my head.

"It will be many years until the pain of our losses will be less prominent, it will be many years until we are able to forget the fear that we felt but I'm sure one day, all of us will be able to be happy again, as long as we work together one making our world a happy place." The deep voice of Kingsley said. "Over the past year we have already worked so hard to create this happy place, a few of us started working towards this while the world around us was falling apart. They did it for us, for our world, never thinking about their own life, safety and needs. Today were are together to honor them, those who we have lost and those of us who are still here. I would now like to give my place up here to a very special young lady. Ginerva Weasley would you please come up here."

I drew an unsteady breath and glanced at Harry, he looked very confused at me. I tried to smile and got up. My stomach heaved but I swallowed my fear, I'm a Gryffindor for goodness sake. I am brave.

Kingsley smiled and stepped back, with an other deep breath I turned to face the mass of people.

"A few weeks ago our minister for magic asked me if I could say a few words to honor somebody really special. Ever since I have been searching for the right words to say today, there are many words that mean a lot but I couldn't find the word that meant it all. When you asks his friends what to say they all say the same thing, just tell them how special he is, his friendship is so special, he cares about people like no one does. Still, everybody who knows this special man personally knows the offers he has made, the losses he had dealt with just to save a world he didn't even knew existed. You see this Harry was raised by muggles, never knowing that his parents were magical, never knowing that a magical world existed. So when at the age of eleven a very large but very friendly gamekeeper rescued him and lead him into our world, his world, he had to learn a lot, deal with the shock that everybody seemed to know him while he didn't even knew himself."

I took a second to take a deep breath and steadying myself. I looked at Harry, meeting his eyes, although tears were streaming down his face he looked every bit the hero he was.

"That day he learned the truth about his life, that he was a special but marked wizard, that his parents and especially his mother died for him, that she saved him from the darkest wizard ever, he learned that his life would never be the quiet peaceful life everybody wishes for. Still he never complained, not once in the many years he fought a certain dark wizards he complained about the fact that it was always him that had to safe the world. And saving our world he did but at great costs."

An other deep breath was needed as I saw Harry shake with tears.

"During my first year at Hogwarts he saved me, a girl that I'm sure he found very annoying as I had the biggest crush on him, yet he was never rude to anyone and he never complaining about how terrible life was for him when the whole school thought he was behind the attacks. A year later he learned the truth about Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Remus became his friends and counselor, Sirius became some what of a father he never had, sadly it wasn't mean for him to know them for long. A small speck of light is the small boy that is now sleeping in his lap, Teddy is for us a very special boy, the light in a never ending dark. A part of a friendship that should have lasted many years."

I sniffled and dried my eyes before continuing.

"Than two years ago he lost the biggest support he ever had, Albus Dumbledore. Although Albus decided on his own end, Harry realized that he was alone in a battle for a world that he still saw as a mighty stranger but he never complained. He gave up everything he loved to make our world a happy place again. For us, for those he loved."

Again I had to wipe tears away. I was shaking with sadness.

"Because that is Harry, he just does what is right, he just cares about people. That fact that he just an hour ago so openly showed that he has forgiven Draco and Narcissa, showed how much he cares, especially when people, like Draco and Narcissa never really had a choice."

I looked up at the two blonds in the back row and smiled at them. Narcissa gave me a soft smile back. I took an other shaky breath and turn my focus back on Harry.

"All these special things about Harry that I just summed up should be enough to earn him the highest honor we wizards and witches have but Harry wouldn't be Harry and a true Gryffindor if he didn't give our world the ultimate gift, his life. I don't know if he agrees with me for telling you all this but before Tom Riddle could be killed he would have to kill Harry first. Harry's life and that of Tom Riddle were bound, linked to each other. Harry learned this during the fight here at Hogwarts, without any hesitation he went and met Tom Riddle. The only thing he thought about was that his sacrifice would mean for us, those he cared about, with him dead Riddle would be mortal again. He met the killing curse without defending himself, getting himself killed for us. Due to some strange magic only he and Dumbledore will ever understand he survived but that feat, that stupid but rewarding decision makes him our hero."

I turned to Kingsley and held out my hand for the Order badge.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I told Kingsley you didn't like to be pulled in the spotlight, we both know you feel that this is all unnecessary and silly but it is time for you to realize that you are a hero, that you are special to our world. Kingsley asked me if you would appreciate the honor we, the wizarding world, are about to give you. I told him you would but that you probably don't understand what it truly means to be given this honor but I'm sure Hermione can explain it all to you. Once the NEWTS are over, I know Hermione, after the NEWTS. Could you please come here."

I held out my empty hand to Harry, a bit awkwardly he shifted Teddy so that he could get up without waking the boy. I expected him to give Teddy to Andromeda, who was sitting behind him but he just took him up the stage. He took my hand and kissed me quickly, it was a short kiss, a chaste kiss but it meant so much.

"Most people will understand by now the honor Kingsley, the wizengamot, the ministry, your friends and I are about to give you. It is decided on that for all that you have done you should be named king of the magical world."

Everybody gasped or laughed. Harry's mouth popped open in shock before he realized it was a joke.

"But!" I raised my voice to get over the murmurs. "But because we don't have kings and queens in our world the second best thing to that would have to do. The Order of Merlin, First class."

I handed him the badge and the official paper work that came with it. My joke had worked because he was still smiling happily as he took it from me. After a few minutes of handshaking and hugging Kingsley turned the audience.

"I know you all want Harry's reaction but he is to speak at the end of the ceremony so we let him off the hook for now."

Harry wrapped his arm around me and pulled me with him to our chairs.

"Thank you." Was all he whispered in my ear as we sat down, more words weren't needed.

Kingsley called Hermione up next, her speech was short but perfect, every word in it described Ron, every sentence told his story, explained his bravery. I hadn't seen Ron cry that often but as Hermione spoke he cried silently. It was a great moment for my brother to receive such a great honor, through his tears he smiled widely and made a show of himself by kissing Hermione passionately on stage until Kingsley had to tap his shoulder.

Still laughing Kingsley stepped up front again.

"Now, we have a few more speeches to go, all that are going are special in some kind of way but this one I'm really proud off. Will Mrs. Jean Granger come up here please."

I heard Hermione squeal and the rest of the people gasp. It was very unusual for a muggle to be at an official event in the magical world but even more for them to be at Hogwarts. As a testimony to the new world we were creating nobody looked disgusted or shocked in a bad way. Hermione's mom still did look very nervous but she took a deep breath and smiled at her daughter.

"It's like magic." Hermione's mom started nervously. "A sentence used many times by fairytale writers. Everything that we, muggles, can't explain is like magic. You have to believe the shock we received when we learned that it was indeed magic. Over the last eight years we have done our best to understand the magical world but some things aren't meant to be understood."

Mrs. Granger gave a weak smile to the many witches and wizards in front of her. I thought she was rather brave to talk like that.

"So when extraordinary things happen in the world my daughter belongs too, a lot of explanation is needed before we understand, because what is normal for a witch or wizard is already extraordinary to us, believe me when I say that you can't understand how something extraordinary in the magical world feels to us. Confusing is a major understatement. Therefore it took the minister for magic a bit more than an afternoon to explain to us what happened with this war, the role our daughter played, the things she has done and what today is all about."

She held out her hand to her daughter and motioned that she would come to her. Hermione looked a bit surprised but got up and walked a bit unsteady to her mom.

"Your minister, Kingsley, as he told us to call him, explained to us for a long time all the things you have done. As a mother I should be very angry with you, running off with to boys, unsupervised, placing spells on us with out our consent, putting yourself in life threatening situations." She looked very stern at Hermione before turning her face into a wide smile.

"Seriously as a mother I should ground you for the rest of your life but I can't, I'm just so proud of you, of all that you have done for your friends and future family. With me, many people from your world are proud as well, therefore they asked me to give you this."

I watched Hermione tearing up as he mother handed her the Order of Merlin, first class, badge and official documentation.

"I believe it's called the Order of Merlin, first class. According to Kingsley it's the highest honor a witch can get but I'm sure you know the full meaning of it better than I."

Hermione smiled with thick tears streaming down her face and hugged her mother.

To see Neville receive his badge of the Order of Merlin, first class was amazingly rewarding. His grandmother was so proud and cried through her whole speech. Of course her speech was about how her stumbling eleven year old grandson had grown up to be the pride and joy of the family. That his parents would have been so proud. I had to cry at that and so many people around me. Except for Neville himself. He just smiled mysteriously and nodded to his grandmother. That smile never left his face, it only grew bigger as he took his badge.

When all the ceremonies were finished Kingsley called Harry up. He handed the still sleeping Teddy to me and smiled. I knew he was about to give a speech but unlike me he didn't look nervous, his smile was relaxed, almost happy. Maybe it was because he realized this show was almost over.

I shifted Teddy a bit in my arms and settle so I could watch my man speak.

"I'll start with what I hadn't prepared for." Harry chuckled and looked at his badge. "I'm sure some of you think that I don't know what it really means to receive this honor… but I do… I know people don't think it of me but I read too. I do not let Hermione read everything for me."

I chuckled as I saw Hermione laugh at him, we all remembered how much he hated it that some reported had named Hermione his personal know-it-all slave a week ago.

"So, I know what it means and I'm very honored. What made it even more special was that the woman I love beyond what is sane took the time from her studies to think up the most special speech I have every heard. Thanks Gin, it meant the world to me."

Harry looked at me for a second, his eyes light with emotion, before turning to the people who were present.

"Now…Kingsley has asked me to speak here as well, although I could point out quite a few more people who should get honored, sadly he asked me to speak of more serious things." Harry smiled as bit as he said it. To me his smile looked mischievous. "But seriously I don't think this is a day to be serious that long. This year has been all about being serious, looking seriously at what has happened to our world, looking seriously at our laws and make new ones. We also are still facing serious enemies, although by now they should know that we won't stop hunting them. Seriousness has been a part of our life for too long now, it's time to start living and enjoy the world we saved."

I closed my eyes as I listened to Harry's words, it felt so good to hear him happily agree to start living a happy life. For me it was the most emotional thing said that afternoon. He was setting himself free, giving himself permission to live his life.

"We all know that hard work will be required from us, sometimes we just can't escape the serious issues in life but we have fought too hard and lost too much to gain our freedom to not enjoy it. So I'd rather start the party now. George, please take it away."

I looked over my shoulder just in time to see a wall of fireworks being raised in the back of the tent. With a loud bang it exploded in jets of light, colors, flowers, animals and sounds of loud music. People oehed and awed as they watched the fireworks while I turned back to see Teddy wake up and started to cry.

"He needs food." Andromeda whispered behind me.

"So do I." Harry said as he walked to us from the stage. "Come on little one, lets find some food for us." He picked he small boy easily out of my arms and with a quick kiss on my cheek he left in search for the banquet.

"He's growing up." Andromeda mused.

"Who?" I asked surprised.

"Harry. He is growing more and more comfortable with who he is, with his life. I have seen it happen with his father, at school and when he visited me with Sirius. They went through the same thing and all the sudden they weren't boys any more, they were men."

"His speech meant a lot. To me at least." I mused as I thought about how grown up his speech really was.

"I think everybody who cares for Harry knows the true meaning behind his words." Andromeda smiled. I nodded and looked around to see where he went to. Unsurprisingly I saw him with Ron attacking the food table, Teddy was firmly in his arms while Ron held up all kinds of food to the boy. Andromeda chuckled.

"I better go and save Teddy, I don't think the boys know what he is allowed to eat."

I laughed and watched Andromeda rush towards Harry and Ron.


	41. Memorial Victoire Part 2, Birth

**_Sorry it took me an other week to update, it's been very bussy. _**

**_Thank you all for all the reviews. I really love them and check every day to see if somebody gave his or her opinion._**

**_Happy Mother's day, too all mothers, this chapter is strangely fitting for today._**

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**41. Memorial Victoire, Part 2, Birth.**

I watched as Harry blushed a bit when Andromeda explained what Teddy was allowed to eat, it was funny to see him so clueless but honestly I have to admit that I would have done it wrong as well. You just don't learn about what babies need to eat at school. School has many flaws as it comes to preparing someone for the future.

On the other side of the food table were Fleur and Hermione chatting happily to Luna and Charlie. I decided to join them and congratulate Hermione with her Order Of Merlin. As I walked up to them I slipped my arms around Hermione's waist and pulled her in a hug.

"You deserved it, Hermione." I told her as I released her.

"Thanks Ginny. I can't believe Kingsley had my mom speak, she hates speaking in front of many people."

"So do I but I did it for somebody I loved terribly."

"And so did I." Hermione's mom said as she walked up to us. "Hello Luna, Charlie and Fleur." Mrs. Granger said as she shook their hands. "Fleur I have to say you look absolutely stunningly pregnant. How long do you have left?"

"I look ugly." Fleur groaned. Which made us all chuckle, as round as she was there was no way in hell Fleur could look ugly. "but it's only two weeks left. My belly had gotten harder the last few days, Molly says it's preparing for the birth."

"Possibly, when I had Hermione it happened the day before. The doctors said that it would be at least a few days before the baby would come but she showed up the next day."

"The healer thinks I'm a bit ahead of the nine months but my body doesn't feel like giving birth just yet I think."

Hermione's mom laughed friendly at Fleur and winked at her.

"You know your body best but those little humans have a mind of their own."

Fleur laughed with Mrs. Granger and they chatted on about having babies and all the nasty things about giving birth. Fleur was scared.

"You gave a wonderful speech." Hermione told me.

"Yeah, Ginny, that was amazing." Luna nodded. I blushed and shrugged.

"It was the best I could come up with." I mumbled.

"It was perfect, you got Harry crying and it came right from the heart." Hermione said as she patted my shoulder.

"Your speech was good as well, Hermione." Charlie said, "It was really all about Ron. You captured him perfectly."

"I had to write it last night, I forgot about it with all the studying and I just had a fight with him." Hermione groaned. "It was written out of frustration."

"At least it wasn't all lovely and sweet, that wouldn't have been Ron." Charlie said to her with a smile.

"Did you knew you were getting honored as well?" Luna asked Hermione.

"No, Kingsley just asked me to tell everybody something about Ron, about all the important thing he did, he never mentioned the Order of Merlin until this morning, the last bit I added today." Hermione sighed. "I don't think anyone besides Kingsley and the Wizengamot knew that the four of us would get honored."

"I knew." I said with a smile.

"What?"

"I knew, Kingsley visited me at the Summer house during the Easter Holidays, he told me all about the plan."

"Why haven't you told me Kingsley visited you?" Hermione asked in shock.

"Because it would have ruined the surprise. You are too smart for your own good and would figure it out. I had to write my speech in secret, hid it from you, Ron and Harry, do you have any idea how difficult that is but if you saw me writing for Harry and you were writing for Ron, you would have figured out that you would be included as well." I laughed. Hermione blushed lightly but was rescued by her own knight in shining armor as he asked her to walked with him around the lake.

I was just about to walk away in search for Harry when I heard a strangled cry behind my. In seconds I whirled around and had my wand drawn. There wasn't any enemy but Hermione's mother was holding up a collapsing Fleur. Fleur's hands were wrapped around her baby belly and she looked extremely pale.

"What happened?" I gasped as I noticed some sort of fluid running down her legs. Hermione's mom looked up and at me and smiled softly, I couldn't believe that she smiled while Fleur was clearly in pain.

"I think her water broke."

"What?" I asked utterly confused.

"I think the baby think it's time." Hermione's mother said with a smile.

"Oh my god. I'm not ready for this." Fleur groaned.

"Well there is no getting ready now, like I said the baby comes when he or she wants too." Mrs. Granger said calmly. She helped Fleur to sit down and looked up at me again.

"Where is your brother, he needs to get her to the hospital?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him for a while."

"He…" Fleur groaned, "He was talking with Kingsley and a few colleagues , over there." Fleur pointed in a general direction to the end of the party tent but I couldn't see my brother there.

"What's wrong?" Somebody asked behind me, I turned to see George standing there, looking very worried at Fleur.

"Her baby is coming." Mrs. Granger said.

"Oh, were is Bill?" he asked as he looked around.

"We don't know." I informed him. Suddenly Fleur let out an other cry and whimpered in pain.

"She has to get to the hospital." Mrs. Granger said.

"Bill should take her." I whispered but Fleur cried and whimpered again.

"She has to get there quickly, she needs help with the pain soon. Can't you take her?"

I was dazed and confused for a second but suddenly the adrenaline started to kick in, it cleared my head and I nodded. I could apparate her there.

"Yeah, I can take you Fleur. George can you find Bill and tell him."

"I can't apparate, Ginny. It's to dangerous, if a contraction hit I loose my focus and can get splinched." Fleur moaned. _Damn_, that killed my plan effectively but my mind worked in overdrive and came up with a quick solution.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes, I think I can but you have to help me."

"I will, come on we take Floo from McGonagall's office, it's just around the corner." Together with Mrs. Granger I helped Fleur back up her feet and helped her quickly out the tent and into the castle.

"Mrs. Granger, could you please find Harry and mom and tell them that I went to take Fleur to St. Mungo's?"

"Of course. I'll alert your family."

"Thanks." I nodded, "Come Fleur, lean on me it's just up this stairs."

With a spurt of energy Fleur made it up the stairs before she wailed in pain again.

"Your mom didn't tell me these contractions were so painful." She hissed through the pain.

"We will be there soon, I promise."

I wrapped my arm around her and dragged her to McGonagall's office. I sighed in relieve as I found it unlocked. We made it to the fire place before Fleur was hit by an other contraction. We had to wait for a few minutes before she was able to stand up enough to get into the fire place. I wondered where in the world Bill was, George should have found him by now. I just hoped that Bill would have gone to St. Mungo's and would be waiting there for us.

"Come on Fleur, one last step." I said as I pulled her into the fire place. With a large pinch of floo-powder we were off to the hospital. I held on to Fleur as much as I could and thanked every existing god for the wide floo-channels that connected St. Mungo's.

It was very quiet at St. Mungo's, not surprising as almost the whole wizarding community was at Hogwarts.

"Hello?" I called as Fleur groaned again.

"Yes, what can I do for you." A medi-witch asked.

"My sister is having her baby." I said nervously as I tried to hold Fleur upright. The medi-witch looked at Fleur and nodded, she apparated away only to appear again seconds later with an Healer at her side.

"Ah, Mrs. Weasley, is it time?" the old female asked calmly.

"I…I think so. My water broke." Fleur said through the pain. The Healer didn't waist any time and conjured up a wheelchair for Fleur and helped her in.

"Where is your husband?" she asked as Fleur sat down.

"We don't know." She wailed. The Healer turned to me and raised her eyebrow in question.

"We were at the ceremony at Hogwarts, Bill was there as well but when her water broke we couldn't find him, I thought it was best to get her here quickly. My other brother is looking for him, they will be here soon."

"Okay, could you follow us miss Weasley."

Without waiting for an answer she wheeled Fleur in the direction of the elevators, I had to run to keep up with them. The lift took us to a very bright looking floor specially decorated for the happy parents to be and babies. We walked through a waiting room where two small groups of people were waiting. Probably for news of the birth. _Soon my family would be here as well_. I thought as I followed Fleur into a room just off the waiting room.

"This will be your private room for the delivery, Mrs. Weasley." The healer told her. Fleur let out a sigh as she heaved herself out the wheelchair and onto the bed. "I'll get you some potion against the pain and do an initial examination."

The healer left the room with a soft smile, I was amazed at her calm, she was like mom when one of her kids used to wail.

"Where's Bill?" Fleur moaned.

I quickly walked to her side and grabbed her hand.

"I don't know Fleur, maybe he went to show his colleagues the castle. George will find him, he knows the castle very well." I tried to comfort her.

"Will you stay with me? Until Bill is here?"

"Of course. I won't let you alone."

An other contraction made her wail in pain and squeezed my hand hard.

"I'm scared, Ginny." Fleur whispered.

I moved to brush her hair out of her face.

"I know Fleur, I would have been scared as well but my mom has done this many times and survived it, I'm sure you will survive it as well."

"Your mum is so much stronger than me." She whimpered.

"No, we are women, we are all strong. You were the only woman in the tri-wizard tournament that shows just how strong as a woman you are."

The contraction left her body and she relaxed her grip on my hand. Slowly a careful smile spread across her face.

"Do you really think that?" she asked.

"Of course, in a few hours you'll have a beautiful baby in your arms and have forgotten all about the pain."

"Do you think the baby will be beautiful, I have been so worried about how she or he is going to look."

"Why on earth would you worry about that?"

"Don't know, I'm just afraid. The hormones I think."

I had to chuckle at her, it was so strange to hear Fleur doubt about anything but especially looks.

"Fleur, honestly any creation between you and Bill can't be ugly. You two are so beautiful if the child gets half your good genes and Bill's good genes she or he will be so good looking it will need protection."

By the time I finished my little rant Fleur was smiling.

"Thanks, Ginny." She whispered.

We both jumped as the door was thrown open and smashed against the wall. In walked my two brothers both looking wildly around them until their eyes fell on us.

"Fleur?" a panicked Bill gasped, his eyes were wild and he looked so pale.

"Bill." Fleur sighed in relieve. I quickly stepped away to make space for my brother to rush at her side.

"Fleur, are you alright? George said you were in pain."

I saw a glint of anger flash through her eyes before she took a deep breath and sighed.

"Yes, Bill, I'm alright, having contractions just hurt like hell." I was surprised by how calm she sounded, just moments before she sounded so scared. "Where were you, we couldn't find you?" Fleur asked.

"I was showing Felko the castle, Harry and George found us as I showed him the Gryffindor tower." Bill said as he hung his head shamefully. "I shouldn't have walked away from you like that."

"It's okay, Bill, I didn't expect the baby coming today. I was just joking with Mrs. Granger about it, saying that the baby wouldn't come today and all. Ginny was the only one there that knew how to get me here."

"I'm sorry." Bill sighed. "Thank, Gin, for looking after her."

"Of course. Are the others outside?"

"No, not yet, dad went to France by Floo." Bill shook his head in disbelieve, such a distance by floo was madness, he must be so sick when he arrives there. "He took an emergency port-key to your parents, Fleur, they will be here soon. Harry couldn't leave yet, he had to do some official press thing but he is coming here as soon as possible. Mom and Charlie will be here soon, the others will show up as well, Luna wanted to come as well but was reminded that she had a floo-appointment with her dad."

I noticed Bill let out Hermione and Ron, I wasn't sure if he did it on purpose but I had the strange feeling that Hermione didn't want to spend the whole day in the hospital. I was a bit upset that she didn't want to be here to support Fleur but she had a thing, this labor could last throughout the rest of the afternoon and night, waiting was going to be boring.

Suddenly the Healer rushed back into the room and handed Fleur her pain potion.

"I need to examine you." She told Fleur. I took it as my cue to leave.

"I'll wait for the others in the waiting room, Bill will call us if we can come back in?"

"Of course." Bill smiled.

"Ginny, thanks for everything." Fleur called after me.

"Of course, sister." I said with a smile and a wink. George and I walked out into the waiting room just as mom and Charlie arrived.

"Ginny, where is Fleur? How is she doing? Where is Bill?" She rattled on questions like crazy.

"Mom, you have to stop talking so Ginny can answer." George said as he closed the door behind me.

"Oh… yes. Tell me Ginny." Mom said, still very demandingly.

"Fleur is being checked over by the healer at the moment, Bill is with her and she is angry with you for not telling her about how painful contractions are."

George and Charlie broke out in laughter while mom looked stunned. Before she could say anything or snap at me, dad arrived with Fleur's parents. Who of course had me repeat everything I just told my mom, except for the last part of course and also what happened before we got here.

"Bill is going to call us when we are allowed back into the room." I finished.

"Zey sure wouldn't refuse her muzzer." Mrs. Delacour said with a heavy French accent. She glared at the closed door, as she tried to open it she found it locked.

"They have a privacy charm on them, they won't open unless they open it from the inside." Dad explained calmly.

"Bill better be careful not to get thrown out by Fleur." George chuckled.

"Bill will call us soon, they were only doing an examination." I said with a sigh. I sat down in one of the comfortable chairs to wait for Bill to let us back in. Mom and Mrs. Delacour paced in front of the door, both women looked very restless.

It took the Healer a very long time but finally the door opened and the woman stepped out.

"The Weasley and Delacour family are allowed to go in but be calm, Fleur is going through a lot of pain at the moment."

"How long do you think before she can begin with the actual labor?" my mother asked.

"She got just four and a half centimeter dilation, so it probably will be a few hours, maybe before midnight but the first one always takes the longest." The healer said with a friendly smile, "I'll be back in about an hour if anything is wrong I'll be just down the hallway."

We all nodded and walked into the room. Bill and Fleur were quietly talking, she sure did look a lot better after the pain relieve. The healer probably took a long time calming her down because Fleur looked a lot more relaxed.

About an hour later Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived. I was really surprised to see Hermione but once Harry stepped away from her I could see the compromise she had made to be there. Her school bag was bulging, it was stuffed with books and parchment.

"Hey, Fleur, how are you doing?" Harry asked as he kissed her forehead. The bond Harry had formed with Fleur over the last year was similar to the bond he shared with Hermione and Luna. Fleur had definitely become Harry's big sister.

"I'm alright, Harry. The pain potions are helping a lot."

"How long is it going to take before we see the little beauty?" he asked.

"I don't know, the healer is hoping maybe before midnight."

"I didn't know it would take that long." Harry gasped. To scare him even more a contraction hit and Fleur whimpered in pain. Harry paled a bit as he looked worried from her to a sad smiling Bill.

"It's normal, Harry. It will only get worse as the baby approaches." My mom whispered.

"pfff, seriously they should honor every woman with a Order of Merlin after giving birth." Harry whispered as he watch Fleur biting through the pain. Both mom and Mrs. Delacour laughed brightly at Harry's statement.

"Thank you Harry." Mom said. "You are the first guy who sees that truth before his wife gets a child of their own."

"With Veela's or part Veela's it is even harder, more painful. Our bodies are made for being beautiful, slender, it just won't settle itself in the wider position other women's body do." Mrs. Delacour explained, now her panic was erased she had a lot less heavy French accent. All women in the room were staring at her in shock. "That is why there aren't so many Veela in the world, they scare away from the pain with coming with giving birth."

"You have never told me!" Fleur screeched.

"Of course not, darling, I want you to have your own family. The will be so worth the pain. Besides it will be less painful for you as it was for me, you are only twenty-five percent Veela. If I had told you my story of how panicked I was with Gabrielle it would have scared you."

Fleur continued to glared and yell at her mom, in rapid French.

"How was the press thing?" George asked Harry as we walked away from the yelling scene and sat down in the corner of the room. We were all thankful for his change of topic.

"Terrible." Harry groaned. "They were only interested in gossip. It was like only Rita Skeeter's there. They weren't interested in the ministry plans for the future or what exactly happened this the last year or during the war. They were only interested in if I had already dumped Ginny, if not, if we were already engaged. When Ron and Hermione's wedding would be, where I was going to live after school. All sorts of gossip and personal things. Like I'm going to tell them anyway."

"Did you see McGonagall before you left?" I asked.

"I did." Hermione said looking up from her book. "She said it was alright for us to stay here until the baby was born."

"Why did you and Ron came in so late?" George asked. "I told you two before mom."

"Well…" Hermione blushed a bit. "I had the feeling that this is going to be a long stay here and I need to study, so I went to grab my stuff but reminded that Ginny, Harry and Ron needed to study as well, so I picked up some their stuff as well."

"You what?" Ron asked in a shocked gasp.

"We need to study, Ronald. Anyway we were only five minute behind you but we ran into Harry and we decided to wait for him."

"You are unbelievable Hermione." I sighed as I shook my head. "Bringing books to the hospital."

Two hours later I was eating my words and thanked the gods for Hermione and the books she brought. Shortly before eight we were kicked out of the delivery room, only Bill and Mrs. Delacour were allowed to stay, the medi-witch would have kicked out Mrs. Delacour as well if it wasn't for her great knowledge about the differences between a human birth and a Veela birth. The healer told us it could still be a long while before the baby was born but the contractions were so close together that they wanted to stay close and be ready as soon as necessary.

It resulted that we were now waiting in the small family room just outside the delivery room. We had finished dinner and exhausted all the topics we could talk about. Mom was angrily pacing in front of the door, she was quite upset that she wasn't allowed in with Fleur and Bill. In absolute boredom I asked Hermione for my books she had brought with her. The smirk on her face was so annoying that I hissed at her angrily.

Percy, Audrey and Angelina showed up shortly after nine, giving us a welcome distraction and new topics to talk about. Especially when Percy showed up with some great news.

"Harry, I've got some good news for you."

"Oh, about what."

"About Deloris Umbridge."

"Really? What about her?"

"She has been seen, there was a good tip during the ceremony today. Kenneth Wicklow told us, I was talking to Arn, Elain and Proudfoot, he's the new head of law enforcement, Kenneth joined us while we were discussing Umbridge. Apparently Kenneth's mother had seen her two days ago on the Ilse of Wright."

"The Isle of Wright, I know there has been quite some activity there. What did Arn do?" Harry asked.

"He asked me to go to the ministry and inform the auror present about the lead. They are going to comb the island tonight to search for her but Kenneth sounded convinced his mom did see the old hag. He said his mom knew her mother pretty well."

"Kenneth Wicklow, you say? I know his name but who is he?" Harry asked.

"He's one of the new staff members of the underage restriction department. He is the one that is drawing up all the new laws for young wizards and witches."

"Do we need any more?" I asked.

"No but better ones." Percy said with a smile. "With you-know-who at the helm they changed a lot of laws for pure-blood children and muggle-borns. Kenneth is now writing good laws for both groups."

"Why not using the old ones?" Ron asked.

"They had a few flaws as well." Percy shrugged.

"What are they going to change?" I asked him.

"I don't know much about it but I know Kenneth is working on a law that allows witches and wizards to be educated in defensive spells and magical laws from the age of eight. Not the wand work but just the theory and with that of course he is finding a way to have muggle-borns know about their heritage sooner. Some laws might not be doable but the idea is that kids know how to protect themselves when needed. Kenneth is very creative, his idea is just write it down, go with it to the Wizengamot and see what happen. I know one law he wrote is going to be approved next week, it ensures that student are allowed to do magic outside of school, only defensive magic. Offensive magic will be only allowed if the students has passed their OWL's and only in emergency situations."

"That's a big change." Ron noted.

"Yeah, but if we get anymore lunatics in the world they might need it." Harry commented. I couldn't help but agree with him. You couldn't teach the children how to protect themselves young enough. I could see myself teaching my children all about defensive magic with or without the laws being changed. My kids, if I would be blessed to have them, were going to be Potters and with being a Potter came trouble, so they should be prepared.

Angelina was eager to talk about Quidditch and her search for a job.

"I'm going to try and see if I can get a job on the support staff of one of the big teams if I can't get on the team." She whispered to me. Ron, Percy and Charlie had fallen asleep halfway through Harry's and Percy's conversation about laws. Harry was still talking with Percy and Hermione was still studying. Mom and dad had left to get us all something to eat and the whole room was so quiet that we both were scared to talk to loud.

"Maybe Gwen has something to do for you." I mused.

"Oh, Ginny, do you think that, really?"

I looked at her, she looked really hopeful about the possibility, I was a bit confused, I wouldn't have wanted to watch others play while I couldn't. It would be torture.

"Do you really want that? Work for those who play?" I asked her.

"Don't care really, I just need a job." She shrugged but in her eyes I could see how much see would mind.

"Why aren't you going to work for George, part-time and use your free time to train and get better and keep on trying out for team?"

"I just don't like being told that I'm not good enough all the time." She sighed depressed.

"If you train enough with the right idea, schedules and techniques you'll get better." I said.

Before she could reply the door to Fleur's room opened and the medi-witch poked her head around. Fleur's dad shot up and looked at her.

"We have started the birth procedure, it won't be long now." The medi-witch told us with a smile and a short nod before closing the door again. With a heavy sigh we all sat down again, only to be shocked up by a loud scream coming from the room. It sounded a hell off a lot like Fleur.

"have they started?" mom asked as she came back with drinks.

"Apparently." Angelina said as she looked horrified at the door.

It was terrifying to hear Fleur scream like that but soon it was silent, I prayed for Fleur that it was done already but the more reasonable thing was that somebody placed a silencing charm on the room.

"Seriously, women are nuts to have babies." Ron groaned as he was woken up by Fleur's scream.

"I thought you wanted children?" Hermione asked a bit snippy.

"I do." Ron said, he held up his hand in surrender.

"Well, than how do you think children are born." Hermione challenged him. Ron swallowed loudly and looked at the door again.

"Mom have you been through that?" He asked in disbelieve.

"Yes, dear. Of course how else would I have had you?"

Ron paled as he looked at her.

"And it hurt like that all the time?"

"Yes, but by the time you have your child in your arms you have forgotten all about the pain. Besides we women are much stronger as men, if men would bare our children the human race would have died out a long time ago." Mom laughed. All the women in that room chuckled at Ron's face, he wasn't sure if he should be shocked, angry or agreeing with her.

"It won't be long now." Dad mused as he watched the door.

"And we will be grandparents for the first time." Mom sang excited.

Even Fleur's dad smiled dreamily at that statement.

"Where is Gabrielle, Mr. Delacour?" I asked as I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen Fleur's sister.

"At school. She has a big test tomorrow morning." He smiled. "I'll go and pick her up tomorrow."

A silence fell over the room as the excitement started to grow. I realized that in a short while I would be aunt Ginny. A concept that was strangely foreign for me. Like all things that started out strange in my life after the war, this sounded so grown-up, adult-like. I wondered when it would stop surprising me, when my brain would except that I was indeed an adult. I came to the conclusion that it would take a long time before I could settle completely on being an adult.

But as I made my mind up I realized that I was indeed close to being an adult. I had already done things that were seen as adult-like. I fought a war, I have sex, I own my own vault, together with Harry I have two houses, two house-elves answer to me, Drooble started to make me into the lady of the house. The only thing actually missing was having a job, getting married and have a bunch of children to raise.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when the door to Fleur's room opened. Bill walked out with the goofiest grin on his face I had ever seen on him. In his arms was a small bundle of blankets and mom squealed.

"Mom, dad, dad, family, say hello to the second girl in the Weasley family."

"Oh, a girl!" Mom gasped.

"Yes, the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen. Sorry Gin." Bill smiled to the bundle of blankets with so much love that I couldn't even tease him.

We all walked closer to have a look. It was indeed a beautiful baby, it already showed a lot of Fleur but her hair showed a bit of Weasley. It wasn't as red as mine, strangely it had equal amount of silvery blond in it. I had never seen a baby with so much hair, neither had Ron for the matter.

"Do babies always have so much hair, I thought they were born bald?" he asked.

"Babies do have some hair, she does have a lot, though." Mom commented.

"Etz the Veela part." Mr. Delacour explained. "Both Fleur and Gabrielle had a lot of hair."

"What's her name?" Hermione asked in awe.

"Come in the room and we tell you and explain."

I was a bit confused by why her name needed to be explained but with a shrug I followed Bill into the room.

Fleur was still looking exhausted but she was smiling brightly as Bill handed the little girl to her. We all gave her and Bill our official congratulations and dad opened a bottle of expensive muggle Champagne.

"Now, tell us." Mom demanded as she set down her glass.

Fleur chuckled and gave Bill a pointed look, apparently he was the one that would be doing the talking. Bill kissed her quickly and asked her if she was sure, with a big smile Fleur nodded.

"Alright, it's your choice darling." Bill smiled at Fleur. "We had a last minute change in the naming of our daughter." Bill said as he turned to us. "We were had selected a name for a girl two months ago and we were going for both grandmother's names."

Mom gasped happily but Bill shook his head at her.

"Sorry mom but we decided to change it just fifteen minutes ago. We both talked about what a strange day it has been and realized that our daughter was born on the anniversary of the biggest victory the wizarding world has seen, we couldn't really look over that so Fleur decided she had a better name in mind, Victoire, French for victory."

"Victoire?" Mr. Delacour asked. He seemed to be thinking it over. "Etz so beautiful, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

"Do you have a second name for her?" Mom asked.

"At first we didn't want to do that. Victoire is already such a big name for such a small being but again Fleur came up with something suitable. Her full name will be Victoire Ginevra Weasley."

Now it was my time to gasp.

"It's my way to thank you for everything you have do for me, Ginny." Fleur said with a smile.

"Just a thanks would have been enough." I whispered, I was a bit overwhelmed with emotion. Harry wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek as I tried to control my feelings. Everybody chuckled or even laughed at me as they weren't used to me being so emotional.

The new grandmother's took turned to hold the little girl, followed by the grandfathers. They gooed and awed over the small child. After that the baby was passed around by Bill. While Charlie held little Victoire in his arms the medi-witch decided it was time for some rest for the new parents. I was really disappointed that I didn't got my chance to hold her but I agreed that Fleur did look really tired. Harry and I were the last at the door when Fleur called us back.

"Harry, Ginny, could you two please wait for a second?"

We looked around in surprised, both Bill and Fleur were smiled at us. Ron turned around as well and looked at Harry.

"Go on, we'll be there in a few. " Harry said to Ron. Ron left the room with a nod.

"What's up?" I asked as I walked back to Fleur and Bill.

"It wouldn't be right if Victoire isn't introduced to you two properly today."

"Don't worry about it Fleur, we'll visit you soon enough." Harry said.

"No, she should know who her godmother and godfather are." Bill said with a smile as he handed the small girl to Harry. "We know you are still a bit out of your element with Teddy but you are really good with him as we saw today, Harry. Please will you be her godfather as well?"

Harry looked completely shocked, his mouth was hanging open and he was gasping for air, I have to admit that I was in a similar state. Complete shock. Harry recovered a lot quicker than I, though.

"I… I would be honored." He stuttered.

"Ginny?" Bill asked as I was still pretending to be a fish.

"Sorry, what? Are you sure?"

"Yes, Ginny." Fleur said with a smile. "We had never any doubt about asking the two of you. Harry and you are a couple that can give so much love, if anything should happen to us we want Victoire to grow up in that love."

"Are you sure you don't want to ask somebody else, I mean, I'm very honored and everything but with Harry, danger seem to be a constant thing in our life, wouldn't it be better to ask somebody besides us?"

"I understand what you mean Ginny, but we have written a will that stated that when the two of you are no longer there Ron and Hermione or Gabrielle and whom ever she will end up with will be asked to do the honors. Honestly we could only think of asking the two of you." Bill explained.

"Godmother?" I mused as I watched the little girl, "and here I thought aunt Ginny was already too grown-up for me." I chuckled.

Harry laughed with me, he carefully handed Victoire to me as I slowly got over the shock.

"Hey, little girl." I whispered. To my surprise she slowly opened her eyes. "Hey beautiful. I'm Ginny, apparently I'm your godmother."

Faintly I heard Bill and Fleur sigh and I felt Harry's hand tighten around my waist.

"Your family must leave now, Mrs. Weasley, you need to feed your child and get some sleep." The medi-witch said after a few minutes.

"Yes, we better leave, the other will be worried." Harry nodded.

I handed Victoire back to Fleur and kissed both women on their forehead.

"Thanks for asking me."

"No, thank you for helping me." Fleur smiled.

We waved goodbye and walked out the hospital. We both we completely lost in our thoughts


	42. The Fight

_**Pfff. I'm sore from writing, my two weeks window was up and I wanted to update... I hope that I didn't leave to many mistakes in it...I used a lot of time to find the right words for this chapter...**_

_**I hope you'll enjoy a bit of drama... **_

_**Thanks for all the reviews... keep them coming, I really love them!**_

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**42. The Fight.**

The NEWTS arrived way too soon. I was still on cloud nine with being asked to be a major part in Victoire's life but the exams were really pressing on me. With Hermione constantly stressing about how important these tests were I felt really unprepared.

Since the birth of Victoire we had been spending the two weeks leading up to the exams revising, re-reading and practicing. Teachers went through seven years of material and pointed us to the most important texts for the tests and helped us with the practical part that caused difficulties.

I honestly don't think I would have survived those last two weeks if it wasn't for Hermione's study schedule. She had made a revising schedule for all of us, making sure we were doing the same things at the same time so we were able to help each other. Even Neville and Luna asked Hermione for help with a revising schedule. I honestly don't know why Ron even dared to complain, Hermione was a gift from god.

The evening before the start of the exams, May the 23rd, we were revising Transfiguration, it was the first of the exams.

"The difficult exams are all in the first week." Ron groaned. "Transfiguration, Potions and Defense all in one week!"

"Better be done with it." Harry said as he flipped the page of his old note book.

My head felt like it was ready to explode with all the information I was trying to put into it. I was reading a copy of Hermione's notes on the animagus. It was the tenth time I was reading it but nothing seemed to linger in my mind. With a groan I threw the parchment in the table.

"I have had enough." I said as I pushed the chair from the table.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked with out looking up.

"I'm not going to study anymore today. My head is full. I have read every single word on transfiguration in our books at least three times. If I don't know it by now I'll never know it. I want to start tomorrow without a headache, I'm going for a walk."

I got up and headed towards the portrait hole.

"I'm coming with you." I heard Harry say.

"You don't have too. I'm just going to walk a bit outside to clear my head."

"I know but I want to come, I need some fresh air as well."

I nodded and walked out, it would be nice to get out and walk in the fresh air for a while but it would be even better with Harry there with me. I felt his hand slip in mine and the other wrap around me. I couldn't help but giggle.

"What?" Harry asked softly as we walked down the stairs.

"Just the irony of things." I chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since I saw you at King's cross that first time I dreamed about having a nice peaceful walk with you as my boyfriend through the Hogwarts grounds. I dreamed about coming here, woo you off your feet and share those lovely little moments with you. It has a slight hint of irony, don't you think, that in our last two weeks as students we are finally getting that peaceful quiet walk."

"What about all those other quiet moments we had in you fifth year?" Harry asked with a bit of a mock shock in his voice.

"They were never really peaceful. There was always something with us there. I don't blame you for it, not even the slightest but Voldemort was always there. You were never really there, not completely."

Harry came to a sudden halt and twirled me around to face him. I expected him to look shocked or hurt but instead there was understanding in his eyes.

"Do you have any idea how true your words are?" He whispered.

I looked in those deep green eyes, like always they were full of emotion, gleaming with the depth of his feelings. All that I could read in them was love, just pure love.

As if he pulled me into it I remembered the conversation we had about the horcrux that had lived in him and how he felt now he was released from him. Like in a pensive I saw the memory flash before me.

Suddenly the green eyes disappeared and I saw more memories flashing by but they weren't my own memories. They were Harry's memories. I saw him talk to Dumbledore's portrait, they discussed the horcrux and the changes Harry went through now that it was gone. He was telling Dumbledore all the things he had told me, his fears and feelings, Dumbledore just told him to go with it, trust his feelings.

I watched as he discussed his new free-from-horcrux feelings and magic with McGonagall. He told her about the change in his magic, the idea of being so uncontrolled and so raw, she helped him by telling him just to let it free, the teachers and castle would be able to handle it all.

He showed me his endless training with Arn, trying to come to terms with his raw magic. Arn was pushing him to let it free, yelling at him to just let of go. I had never seen Arn so aggressive and harsh but I understood what he was doing, why he was pushing Harry to let it all out. The duel I saw was intense, fast and complicated.

Suddenly I saw his green eyes again and stumbled towards him.

"What was that?" I gasped as Harry caught me in his arms.

"You saw that all, didn't you?" He asked.

"Your memories." I breathed.

"Than it worked."

I pulled back and looked up at him in surprise. My facial expression must have been funny because he turned from very serious to laughing loudly. He pulled me along to the lake, laughing as he went.

"Do you remember during the holiday in those caves?" He asked.

"When I saw your memory of your last trip with Dumbledore?"

"Yes, that. I was very confused that you were able to see my memory without performing legimency. McGonagall couldn't explain it either but she advised to try and find answers in the ministry library. Don't tell Hermione but it's even bigger as the one here, it holds older information, older books.

I spend some time at the ministry to find out what exactly happened. Mainly because it would be very dangerous for me to have such an open mind, enemies could easily use that against me if they would find out but I deep down I hoped that this was a way to show you things that I'm not ready to talk about. If I could control it, could I show you, could I let you in freely while keeping others out?"

"I'm guessing you found the answer." I said faintly. The man never stops surprising me.

"Yes, I did." He chuckled. "I searched in the wrong place for a long time, I thought that it was related to occlumency and legimency but I found an ancient text about a bond between two people, _Amor Anime_. I was intrigued by the title and opened it to see what it said. The second chapter talks about the different bonds between people that love each other. It says that when this bond goes beyond what is normal, beyond the normal love and trust the soul will open up, it will create an open bond between the people in question. Apparently we share such a deep bond of trust and love that I could unconsciously invite you in, open my soul to you. I think I can do it consciously now."

I honestly didn't know what to say, I really loved the fact that he trusted me with everything but it went beyond what I could understand, it confused me greatly.

"I know, it's a bit hard to comprehend, I'll bring the book with me next time I go to the ministry library than you can read it for yourself. I think the book explains it really well."

"I'd like that."

We walked in silence for a while, just enjoying each others company and the view of the lake.

"That last memory…" I started slowly.

"The one with Arn?"

"Yeah, the duel, is that really what you work on with Arn? Controlling your magic?"

"We work on a lot more, like intelligence on the werewolves and Death Eaters but the practical parts are mainly focused on that."

"Why?"

"Arn thinks that there is a stronger power in me, he thinks my fear of being out of control keeps it locked up, during duels he is always rallying me up trying to get me to loose control over my fears."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"He always makes sure that there are enough aurors there to control any situation but I'm still afraid to let loose completely."

"I know, it is scary to feel your magic flow through you without being able to control it. When I was younger before school and my brothers would tease me, it always got me angry, sometimes I just lost control. It would always scare me to death, those little outbursts. Mom and dad took hours talking to me before I calmed down."

"Have you ever lost it against your mother?" He asked.

"Once." I said with a blush as I remembered the fit I had with my mother a long time ago.

"What happened?"

"Mom made me wear a pink frilly dress for Christmas when I was seven, I hate pink anyway but it was so girly and my brothers were making fun of me. So I threw a classic girly fit over the dress, by the time I was done, mom's dress had pink frills and I was wearing a black dress."

Harry laughed, I could imagine his mind came up with all sorts of images.

We reached the other side of the lake, from the shores we have an amazing view of the castle. The moon provided enough light to see the outlines of the castle and the windows were all lit.

"Two weeks." Harry murmured.

"It has been seven years." I whispered.

"I think I remember every single day."

"Me too."

"I honestly can't believe it's almost over." Harry said as he shook his head. "It doesn't seem like eight years ago when I first came here, well it's closer to nine now."

"To me it feels like yesterday when I got my Hogwarts letter, I had been so afraid that they would forget me."

"Why would you think that?" Harry asked surprised.

"Because there were so many of us, I was afraid that they would forget about the smallest."

"That makes sense." Harry nodded, "You know now that they will never overlook you, don't you?"

"Care to explain why, I'm still not that special."

"If it wasn't for the fact that you are so damn special to me, people would still notice you, you are so beautiful and your magic is so powerful, your hexes and curses are very strong and you play amazing Quidditch."

"Thanks, love." I said with a smile, his trust in my abilities as a witch had always been a great support to me, during D.A. classes and later in everything I did. After the incident the weekend before Valentine's day I noticed Harry stopped being overly protective, instead of wanting to follow me everywhere I went he would just say, be careful, or when he didn't trust the situation he would tell me and ask me if I wanted him to come along. He had started to show me that he really trusted me, that he could trust me to deal with dangers that might be there. I really liked this change between us, it felt more natural.

"What are we going to do after the NEWTS?" I asked after looking at the castle in silence for a while.

"Dunno, really. I know our last day here is with the party three days after the exams. I have a it more than a month before Arn expects me back to finish my auror training. You?"

"I haven't got a clue. Gwen expects me for a trainingscamp up north for two weeks in August but I don't have anything to do before that. Maybe a holiday would be nice. Will you come to the Burrow or are you going to live in the Summer house immediately?"

"I was planning on going to the Summer house. Don't get me wrong, I love your parents and your mom takes excellent care of me but I need space, I want to start living on my own, I have my own responsibilities and business to take care off. Once I leave school all the official things that comes with being a Potter will be my responsibility as well, I need time and space to learn about it all."

"What official things?" I asked. This was something he had never mentioned before.

"Trust funds, businesses, accounts and charity. All the things that made the Potter family rich and famous before my parents were killed. Over the years the goblins have taken care of it but their influence will stop when I leave school. I will be responsible for everything." Harry explained.

"Why haven't you told me about this before?"

"Because I just didn't think about it, it's a part of my life that I rather not deal with but once out of school I don't have a choice anymore."

"You could have told me, I could have helped you with it."

"You know how to organize all those things?" He asked half surprised half with thick sarcasm, it brushed my nerves a bit, flaming up some anger.

"No, but I do know somebody who is amazing in organizing and numbers and might be happy with a new job for a while." I snapped. Immediately I turned around and walked on, I needed to keep moving to prevent myself from getting really angry.

"Ginny!" Harry called after me, I heard him running a few steps to catch up with me. "Gin, hey, stop."

I whirled around and glared at him.

"How, Harry, can I ever trust you as completely as you do me if you keep things hidden from me!"

"I know." He sighed. "and I'm sorry. I found out about these things when I was visiting Gringotts last summer, I just didn't know how to deal with it. I really didn't want to deal with it, so I focused on other things, the holiday and things like that."

"What changed?"

"The fact that I realized that it would be our life, that it is already there for us to deal with anyway, it won't go away just because I ignore it."

"Time to grow up and deal with grown up things." I sighed.

"Something like that."

"What are we exactly talking about?"

"Let's say that the Potter vaults, all including, are as massive as any of the old pure-blood families. They were one of the oldest and richest family since Merlin, together with a few other families, you probably know who I'm talking about. Not to forget that the Black's were like that as well."

"Meaning if we wanted to we could focus only on that, sustaining that, never working."

"Easily." Harry shrugged. I thought about it for a second, when I was younger it would have been a dream, being with Harry, marrying him and focus on raising his children while living in a large home, running the household while never having to go out for work. Right now, it didn't sound so good, I wanted to work.

"Somehow, it doesn't sound like the fantasy life." I murmured.

"No, it doesn't but it will make our lives a lot easier."

"Hmm, I'm used to having a little, I'm already feeling terrible spoiled and pampered by Kreacher and Drooble."

"Good, I do want the best for you." Harry said with a soft smile. "You said you knew someone who could help us?"

"Yeah, Angelina." I said with a smile.

"Angelina? You mean your future sister in law Angelina?"

"Yes, she is amazing with numbers, she scored even higher on Arithmancy as Hermione in her OWL's and she had top marks for her NEWTS, she is a real good organizer, she helped Fred and George organize when they started the shop. I thought that maybe she could help you, she is looking for something that allows her to train for her try-outs and earn some money anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, she'll do great."

Harry looked at me for a while, I knew he was thinking things over.

"Okay, you are as much a part of it as I am and I really do trust you, I'll write Angelina to meet us after the exams."

We walked toward the memorial grave, in the darkness it looked as beautiful as it looked eerie. The names of the people who fought for us, for our side, lit up as we approached, like they knew we were coming. We just watched the grave for a while.

"I still can't believe it, not really." Harry whispered.

"That it's over?"

"That, but also that we lost Remus and Tonks. Fred, although he isn't really gone." Harry whispered sad.

"Neither are Tonks and Remus, Harry. They are still here, in spirit and in Teddy."

"I still can't see it like that, not yet." His voice thick with tears.

"But you will, time will give it all a place." I said as I brushed the tears from his face. "We lost so much during those two years of war but they will only really be lost when we stop remembering them and stop feeling the pain of loosing them."

Harry looked down at me and kissed me briefly.

"When did you get so smart." He whispered.

"I have you as a boyfriend and the brightest witch of our age as a friend, it's bound to rub off on me sometime."

And with that Harry laughed, the sadness left his face and was replaced by contentment.

"Come on lets go back to the castle." Harry said after kissing me a bit more.

"Do I have to?"

"Just two more weeks after that we will go to the Summer house and enjoy the freedom." Harry said as he pulled me in the direction of the castle.

"Harry?" I asked after a few minutes of enjoying the silence.

"Yes."

"Are you planning on getting married to me the next two weeks?"

"What?" he gasped in surprise. "I thought you didn't want to get married, yet."

"No, I don't but I'm afraid that mom with throw a fit if I moved in with you before we get married."

"Hmm…"

Harry didn't say anything for a while, he looked relaxed but his eyes were showing the storm that went on in his head. Suddenly he stopped and pulled me into his arms.

"What do you really want?" he asked.

"With what?"

"After school, after our NEWTS, the farewell party. Do you want to leave the Burrow? Do you want to come and live with me? Do you want to go on a holiday, just the two of us? Tell me, what do you really want to do after school?"

"I want…" I started but stopped in my tracks and thought about what I wanted, really wanted. "I want to be your lady of the house, I want to live with you, share my life with you. I want to be the lady that Drooble is turning me into, to stand next to you when you need somebody strong next to you. I want to run our house-hold. I want to enjoy life with you, go on vacations, see the world. Play Quidditch, train hard every day, come back home all sweaty and dirty to become even more sweaty and dirty with you. Yes, I want to leave the Burrow and move in with you, I can't imagine my start to my adult life any other way."

"You want a lot." Harry smiled. "Are you going to do it? Are you going to come and live with me?"

"Yes."

"Even if your mother throws a fit?"

"She'll survive."

"Really?"

"Yes, Harry, mom will be angry, upset and possibly be yelling but she'll come around, eventually. Maybe if we promise her to include her in future wedding plans or promise her to be our first choice baby sitter when we have children."

"That might work." Harry mused. I could see that he was taking my fears for my mom's reaction very seriously, too seriously maybe.

"Don't worry too much about it, we will deal with it when it comes."

_And boy__ did it come_.

_6__th__ of June 1999_

To my surprise the exams went really well, the practical tests weren't that difficult although I was sure Hermione and Harry scored more points than me because of their so called bonus tests, like Harry's duel with the old wizard who tested him on Defense. The whole school talked about it, they were all in awe with Harry's skill to fling curses and hexes at lightning speed while still being able to protect himself. Hermione scored big points in her transfiguration test by creating an flock of paradise birds out of a toothpick but I had the feeling I did good anyway.

The theoretical tests were very difficult, I thanked Hermione every night for our revising schedules, without them I wouldn't have been able to do the exams. Transfiguration was indeed the most difficult one and there were a lot of questions on Animagi, which I found as interesting as I found it difficult. Potions was difficult as well but I managed to write down an answer to every question. Still after the last test I felt positive that I got good grades for all of them.

I knew that the others felt the same about their exams. Luna happily told us that she was sure she got an O for care of magical creatures which would ensure her place in Charlie's research team.

"Do you really want to do that, only dragons?" Harry asked her. We were all sitting at the edge of the lake enjoying the warm weather and waiting for the families to arrive for the farewell party.

"Yes, for now. Charlie loves the dragons and I love him so it's the most logical solution, besides Romania has a lot of interesting wild life to study as well."

"You'll be so far away from us." I whispered.

"I know but I'll visit and you'll visit us right?"

"Of course, Luna." Harry said with a smile.

"What are you going to do after tonight?" Luna asked in general.

"Hermione and I have a wedding to plan first and a long vacation sound nice." Ron answered.

"Are you two going to live in that London house after you are married?" Neville asked. To my surprise Hermione blushed a bit.

"Yeah, Ron is moving in with me today, it will be our home from now on. It will be easier for him to be in London to help out George and maybe even go to the auror training. For me it will be an easy location from to go to work as well."

"Do you have a place at the ministry already?" Luna asked her.

"Not yet, really but Kingsley has been begging me to come to him as soon as I finished school."

"What about you two?" Neville asked us.

"I'm starting the last step of the auror training later this summer, so I have time to get my life arranged a bit more solidly before that and also a nice quiet holiday would be nice. Gin, is starting her training later this summer so the two of us will go on holiday before that."

Ron snorted.

"Good luck with getting mom to agree with that, the two of you alone on a holiday, not until you are married."

I glared at Ron, the stupid git.

"I'm not getting married right out of school!" I snapped. "Mom just have to get used to that fact."

"Where are you going to live, Harry? At that mansion or is that staying a summer home?" Neville asked before Ron could snap back.

"Gin wants to live at the Summer house and for now that's the best option, I really don't want to live in London and the house in Godric's Hollow needs a lot of work before it will be livable."

"So you are going to live together?" Luna asked.

"Yes, that's the idea, you all know about the Summer house so you could visit us easily." Harry said without hesitation. Ron on the other hand gasped and almost choked on his Butterbeer.

"Ginny, mom is never going to agree with you and Harry living together." Ron said whiningly.

"She better, I have decided that, that is what I want. I'm an adult now and can make my own decisions. Just like you are doing."

"I don't think it will be that easy. You are her only daughter, she'll throw a fit." Hermione sighed.

I knew I should agree with her because she was right, mom would throw a fit when she would find out about our plans but I had made up my mind already.

"What about you, Neville?" Harry asked.

"I got the job here, I'm going to work for five years as Professor Sprout's assistant, after that she will retire. I can stay here in the castle if I want to but I'm thinking of finding myself an apartment in Hogsmeade this summer."

"What about Susan?" I asked. It was common knowledge that Neville and Susan were an item but I realized that I hadn't seen them together since Easter. Neville looked up over the lake, in the distance I could see the blond girl in question walking.

"Susan and I broke up last week, we hadn't been really together since Easter, I think we grew apart or were too different in our ideas of the future. She wanted to see the world and have adventures where as I have had enough of excitement and just want a peaceful life."

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"Don't be, it's not the end of the world. Everything happens for a reason, right?"

"I guess."

Our nice and quiet get-together was interrupted when the families started to arrive for the party. We all heaved ourselves of the floor and made our way to the party area to meet up with family and in Harry's case with Teddy and Andromeda. They were his family and he would make sure that Teddy knew that he was family.

After a short but emotional goodbye speech from McGonagall the party started and everybody was happily chatting around. The whole Weasley family, including Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna sat together. We drank wine and a bottle of fire whiskey was passed around and toasts were made.

"To freedom!" Ron toasted as he took a swing.

"To the quiet life." Harry toasted.

"To love." I said as I took a swing.

"To our future." Hermione said.

"To future grandchildren." My mom said happily, her eyes fixed on me and Luna.

"I like to toast to Harry." A rough voice said behind us. We turned to see Hagrid walking up to us. "Without him, his determination, stubbornness and skill we wouldn't be here."

We all agreed.

"To Harry!"

Charlie, Luna and Hargid were soon lost in talks about Dragons. Mom's face told me that she wasn't really happy about Luna living with Charlie at the reservation but she didn't say anything about it. Probably because Luna wasn't her child and she knew that Charlie wouldn't except her nonsense. Still, it didn't gave me much hope that Ron and I would get away with it that easily.

It got later in the evening when mom indeed started on our sleeping arrangements for when we got home.

"Ron, I have you and Harry sleeping in the same room again, your father wanted to redecorate the Twin's room before it's used." Mom said when it was almost time to pack our trunks and leave the castle.

"Mom, I'm going with Hermione to London. I have already told you that."

"Yes, darling, after the wedding." Mom said.

"No, mom, tonight, my stuff is already there." Ron told her, mom glared at him. "Mom, Hermione needs to be in London for her work and I'm going to help George with the summer rush. It makes absolutely no sense to stay at the Burrow if we both need to be in London anyway."

"Hermione doesn't start her job until August." Mom bristled.

"No, Mrs. Weasley, but I want to have the house decorated and ready before I start my job." Hermione said calmly.

Mom glared at her before turned her eyes to Ron. Ron didn't cower away like he used to do, he looked back at mom with the same glare.

"Fine, fine." Mom yelled. "At least I still have a daughter at home."

I sighed and prepared for what was coming.

"Uhm, mom…" I started. She turned around, her face contorted in anger.

"No, absolutely not!" she yelled at me.

"Mom." I tried again.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, you are coming home with us! You are to young to even think about moving in with Harry, not before you get married!" she yelled angrily.

"Mom, I'm not going to get married right out of school." I told her. I honestly tried to stay calm, taking careful breaths and reminding me that it was my mom and I loved her, although it was very hard right now.

"You are not going to live with Harry, not until than." She snapped.

I got up and glared at her.

"Mom, I will come home tonight and stay around for a few days to pack my stuff. Harry and I want to start our life together."

"NOT UNTIL YOU ARE MARRIED!" she screeched.

"Enough!" I yelled at her. "I am not going to get married just because you want me to!" I slammed my fist on the table hard enough to knock the bottles of Butterbeer over. "You are not going to control my life like that. I'm an adult and make my own decisions."

"NOT UNTIL YOU ARE MARRIED!" she repeated.

"Fine, be like that, try and see if you can find a daughter who will agree with that. Goodbye mother." I glared at her and walked away, actually, I ran away, not looking back until I reached the apparition spot and apparated away.

When my feet hit the ground my anger subsides and tears started to flow. I couldn't believe what just happened, today was supposed to be a happy end and tomorrow a happy start of a happy life. I had really planned on going home tonight, spend a week or so with my family and start packing, after our holiday I would finally move in with Harry. Or at least that was what I had in mind. Mom ruined every happy idea of it.

"Is you alright, mistress Ginny?"

I looked up to see Drooble standing in front of me, the little elf looked so worried. I nodded weakly but the tears wouldn't stop.

"Come, Drooble will make tea." The elf said sweetly as he turned around.

A few minutes later I sat on the sofa with a steaming cup in my hands. Drooble had left me alone to think after he had repeatedly asked if I needed anything. I was sure he was looking for Harry to take him to me but for now I didn't care. I just sat there and stared out the window.

Mom had ruined my goodbye to Hogwarts, maybe it wasn't fair to put the blame on her completely, I should have kept in control of my temper but she always made such an old-fashioned fuss out of everything.

Mom wanted her children to give her grandchildren as soon as possible. Her idea of a perfect life was to have and raise kids until they gave you grandchildren to dote on. Nothing but staying at home, never going after your dreams, never travel to see the world. I couldn't even try to understand that idea of a perfect life. It wasn't my dream, it was hers and she was pushing it onto me.

I jumped as a loud bang echoed through the hallway.

"Drooble?" I asked.

"Yes, Miss." The elf said as he appeared next to me. Before I could say or ask anything I heard people yelling at each other.

"Molly, be reasonable!" I heard Harry say, his voice sounded calm but it was loud enough to carry through the house.

"She is my daughter! She is to listen to me."

"But she's an adult now." Harry tried to talk.

"I don't care I didn't raise her to be seen as a harlot! She is coming home and stay there until she behaves like a proper lady!"

"Molly!" I heard my dad say. I was up and in the hallway before mom could even snap at him.

"A harlot, hé!" I yelled. "If you think that much of me, you can leave and never return. I don't want to ever see you again!"

My anger flared up so high that I pulled out my wand and pointed it directly at her. "Leave." I growled at her.

"Ginny…" Dad started.

"I said leave!" I yelled and turned to walk up the stair. I knew that if I stayed I would hex her as soon as her mouth opened. When I was out of sight I stopped to listen what was going on downstairs. My hands were trembling with anger.

"Brilliant." I heard dad groan. "you've done that brilliantly, Molly."

"What are you taking her side now!"

"Molly, they are right, Ginny is grown up, an adult. She decides for herself what's right. I know this isn't what we wanted but you could have handled it a lot better than this. I'm sure this isn't how Ginny wanted it to go."

"Arthur is right, Molly. Ginny's plan was to stay home for a while, we were to go on vacation and return here shortly before we both had to start at work. She wanted to spend some time with her family."

It was silent for a while, carefully I sat down on the steps leading up to the master bedroom, my head resting in my hands, trying to calm down and clear the deep red anger from my head. I wasn't sure what to expect, what I wanted to happen. Deep down I hoped that mom would come up and apologize, that things would be okay but her words had cut deep. Her saying that I would be a harlot, a whore in her eyes if I followed my ideas of a happy life had hurt very deep. That hurt part of me hoped that she would just leave and leave me alone.

Some soft talking came floating up from downstairs but I couldn't hear exactly what they said. Shortly after that the door opened and closed again, I closed my eyes as I heard the door fall close. They had left… _now what?_

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, I knew them to be Harry's but I looked up anyway, just to make sure. His face was stuck somewhere between anger and sadness. When he reached me he held his hand out to me. I took it and let him pull me up, without a word he lifted me up in his arms and carried me up the stairs to our bedroom.

Once there he helped me out off my dress and handed me my nightgown. It's wasn't a moment for passion and wild sex and we both knew it, the atmosphere around us was to heavily charged with sadness. Once I was dressed he lifted me up again and placed me on the bed. He turned around and changed his own clothes, within a minute or so he return to the bed and sat down next to me.

The silence turned from comforting to awkward and painful.

"Now what?" I whispered.

"I don't know." Harry sighed.

"What did you tell them, just before they left?"

"That it would be better if they left." Harry said softly.

"They agreed?" I asked surprised.

"Your dad did, he just took your mother by her arm and stirred her out. He murmured a soft sorry." Harry sighed.

"This wasn't what I had in mind for our first night out of school." I whispered.

"Neither had I, I never imagined getting into a fight with the woman that is almost my mother."

"You and mom fought?"

"Yes, I told her to keep her voice down, she only shouted harder."

"Why would you ask her that?" I asked confused.

"Ginny, there were people of the Daily Prophet, from Witch Weekly and god knows what other magazines, they write literally shaking with the idea of a good story. I'm the boy who won and you are his girlfriend and not to mention that they have already picked up on the fact that you are tipped as the next Quidditch top talent."

"Meaning the argument with my mom will be front page news." I groaned.

"I just hope that Kingsley is able to do some damage control."

Harry wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. We were both still reeling from what had happened, a strange kind of sadness hang over us.

"What happened after I left?"

"Do you really want to know?" Harry asked.

"Better to hear it from you than read it in the paper tomorrow."

Harry took a deep breathed and hugged me even closer.

"Your mom was screaming at you to come back, that she would lock you up until she found a proper guy for you to marry. Ron smartly pointed out that you had found a proper man already. She just screamed at him that you would not be married to a guy that would make you behave like a harlot. That's were I got angry. I told her to keep her voice down, maybe a bit roughly but she turned to me and told me that I should stay out of their life and leave their daughter alone."

"No." I gasped.

"I don't know what had gotten into your mother and I know that she didn't mean it but every Weasley present turned against your mother. All telling her to stop screaming and think about what she was saying."

"What did you say to her?"

"I told her that if she continued like that I would walk away and never return."

"You wouldn't have done that, would you?"

"I like to think not but she got me really angry, she was naming you and me every bad name she could think of in front off the wizarding world. I honestly was planning to walk away and apparate here, grab you and take you somewhere sunny for a long holiday. I really would stay away from her as long as possible."

"What did she say?"

"Nothing, Drooble appeared to tell me that you were at home in a state of distress. Your mother walked off and apparated here. Your dad and I followed quickly, the run from the gate to the front door was enough to clear my head from the extreme anger. You heard what happened next."

I nodded and closed my eyes, I rested my head on his arm and against his chest. I felt tears stinging in my eyes.

"Are you going through with your threat?" I asked him.

"That depends on you and your mother." He sighed. He pulled back and lifted my head so that our eyes would meet. "She needs to apologies to you first, how you will go about that is up to you, if you want to go to the Burrow tomorrow and talk to her that's okay but if you have other ideas than it's your decision."

"I won't go tomorrow." I sighed. "If I go back tomorrow she'll never learn. I want her to see that she can't control everything. It was annoying last summer when she would butt in on our moments and privacy but things have changed now..."

"We have grown up." Harry finished my thought for me.

"We will see where the leaves will fall." I sighed. Harry nodded and kissed me softly.

"Let's get some sleep, we'll see tomorrow where they fall."


	43. Family matters

_**My dear readers, I'm sorry for the long wait... I was rather busy supporting my mom who has to go through surgery tomorrow...she needed a distraction, so we went out doing fun things...**_

_**anyway, here is the next chapter... I hope you will all like it... I'm sure it'snot my best one but the next one will be...I have great ideas and line-ups coming...**_

**Enjoy! and please Review**

* * *

**43. Family matters**.

18th of June, 1999

"Have you talked to your mom already?" Fleur asked as she fed Victoire. The weather was so warm that we had moved to the orchard to enjoy the coolness of the shade. Fleur was staying with us for the night because Bill had to leave for an urgent job in Egypt and didn't want to leave Fleur and his daughter alone. Harry had offered them a place in our house for the time needed.

"No. Dad stopped by last Monday, we talked for a while but I haven't heard from mom ever since…"

"Are you still angry?"

"No, not really but I'm hurt by her behavior, by what she said about Harry and calling me a harlot just because I follow my dreams. I expected her to come and see me after Witch Weekly came out, the article hurt me so much but there wasn't even a word from her."

"I understand." Fleur nodded.

The press outfall of the whole fight had been hurtful and shocking. The daily prophet, in it's try to make amends with Harry, took our side and published all kinds of stories why Molly Weasley had gone crazy and insulted the Wizarding world's hero. Some smaller papers and magazines took our side as well but Witch Weekly hadn't.

The biggest magazine in the wizarding world did anything to chase me away from Harry, or Harry from me. It was clear that they wanted the wizarding hero a bachelor. They published a story about how I was completely wrong for Harry and how I was a slut that would never be good enough for him. They published made up stories about my time at school and the boys I had conquered there.

My only comfort was that Harry was equally angry with the magazine and it's reporter as I was. The woman who wrote the story haunted our every step, she was camping outside in the woods, it was a good thing the Summer house was unplotable or she would sleep in front of the gate but still she had a hunch our home was close by. If we went out the safety boundaries she would follow, asked horrendous questions and insulting the both of us just to provoke.

"Do you think it will ever be the same again, between you and Molly?" Fleur asked.

"I don't know." I sighed.

"Do you want too?"

"No, I don't think so. I want us to trust each other again, to be able to do things together and laugh like a mom and daughter should but it will never be what it used to be ever again. It can't. We all have changed a lot, we all have grown up and are ready to live our own lives. Isn't it normal that the relationship between child and parent changes than?"

"It is." Fleur nodded. "My muzzer was so upset when I told her I was marrying Bill and would live with him. She didn't think Bill was suitable for me with his wild looks and all but she got used to it and is now completely in love with Bill."

"I thought mom loved Harry as well." I sighed.

"Ginny, things were said that evening, things that your muzzer greatly regrets. Soon she will realize that and come to talk to you."

"Do you really think that? From what dad has been telling me, I'm not sure, dad says she is still really upset."

"It will be alright, she just needs time to cool down." Fleur smiled.

"I hope you're right. I can't imagine living without my mom in my life."

"Did Ron talk to Molly at all after the fight?"

"No, Ron and Hermione haven't been at the Burrow yet, George has been there to get Ron's stuff, the things he really needed but Ron wants nothing to do with mom until she apologize to Harry and me."

"Bill feels the same but he understands that it's important for Victoire to have her grandmother around." Fleur said as she looked down at the little girl. "Did Ron and Hermione leave for their holiday?"

"Yes, they left yesterday."

"Where were they going?"

"South, to the coast of Cornwall, one week with Hermione's parents and from there they would travel to Crete for an other week or so."

"When are you and Harry leaving?"

"Not before July, that's all I know. Harry is planning the trip."

"A surprise?"

"Yes."

"And you don't like surprises." Fleur laughed.

"That's why he is doing it, he thinks I should get used to surprises." I groaned.

Fleur laughed loudly as I grumbled under my breath.

"Harry sure knows how to deal with you." She chuckled.

I growled at her but she just continued to laugh and feed Victoire.

It was good to have Fleur around, she took my mind of the sad things that were regularly stuck up there. The last two weeks had been really hard.

The morning after the fight I woke up hissing with anger, the things Harry had told me, the things mom had said, had finally reached the conscious part of my mind. It had me boil with anger and for the first time since I started at Hogwarts I lost control over my power and blew up, making all the windows in our room break.

Harry had held me in his arms until I calmed down, after that we talked and talked. Mainly about how to deal with mom but we both agreed on waiting for her move. After that we talked about leaving the country for a while, just until the whole thing would be forgotten but I didn't want to leave just yet. I had hoped mom would show up to talk it all out. Every day since I wondered if I had made the right decision.

I couldn't go out anymore, if I went to visit Diagon Alley people would follow me around, calling me names or asking me strange questions. I could only travel by floo or by apparating to secured spots to ensure nobody would harass me. I hated it every second. It was like the war had started all over again, all feeling of freedom was taken away from me.

The afternoon after the fight, Kingsley had visited, he offered protection for the Summer house and for when I needed to travel which helped a little. He also tried to work his magic on the press but they wouldn't listen much. After the war, understandably the press had big issues about being controlled by the ministry. The evening before Fleur arrived I gave in and asked Harry to make plans to leave the country for a while. Sadly the Wizengamot had decided that the last trials would be held the last week of June so we couldn't leave before that.

"When does Harry come home?"

"Before dinner if he knows what's good for him." I said darkly.

"Did he do something wrong?"

"No but he was annoying me this morning about planning the vacation. I told him to be home before dinner so he couldn't spend too much time planning something really big. I just want some quiet time away before the whole hectic period with the Harpies begin."

"You know it's Harry we are talking about, he gave his best friend a house. Of course he is planning something big."

I laughed and nodded. "You are probably right."

We sat in the garden for the whole afternoon, in the shade it was nice but the sun was blistering hot. We talked about Percy and Audrey who had gotten engaged during their weekend to Paris. I had never considered Perce to be the romancer but according to Audrey he sure knew who to woo a woman of her feet. Audrey was a lost cause, completely and utterly in love with my nerdy brother.

We discussed introducing Victoire to Teddy in a few weeks. Teddy had one of the famous childhood illnesses and was currently under lock down by Andromeda. Harry had visited him a few days ago to cheer the little guy up a bit. Of course he brought a big pile of toys with him to help with that. Fleur wanted the two children to grow up together, so they could play with each other and have sleepovers here at the Summer house.

"I know Harry is already looking forward to teach Teddy how to fly and play Quidditch." I told Fleur.

"How long is he going to wait before he does that?"

"Not too long. Teddy is learning how to walk and as soon as he can Harry will buy him a toy broom."

Shortly after six Harry returned home. Drooble immediately served dinner in the rose garden.

"How was your day, love?" Harry asked when he sat down next to me.

"Nice, we spend the whole afternoon in Orchard. It was too hot to sit in the sun. Yours?"

"Horrible." Harry groaned.

"What happened?" Fleur asked after she had handed Victoire to the ever helpful Kreacher. The little elf sure had skill with babies and Fleur was happy to let him help.

"First I ran into a whole squad of journalists asking me if it was true that I was single again. Apparently some idiot told them that your mom was interviewing possible candidates for marriage."

"What?" I gasped. "She wouldn't?"

Harry looked at me pointedly, telling me with a look that at the moment we couldn't be sure.

"I asked your father when I met him at the courtroom but he isn't sure what your mother is up to or if she has been up to anything at all. He hasn't been home much now that he is Kingsley's right hand man when it comes to muggles. He was as shocked about the news as I was. I think he will come here tonight to tell us what is really going on."

"She can't do that!" I whimpered. The idea of my mom being so angry with me that she would really promise me to a unknown guy was horrific, I really couldn't see her doing that, but what if she was…

"Shhh, love. There is a second part to the story that made my day horrible." Harry said quite nervously. "I made a mistake last summer, Ginny and I really, really hope you won't be angry with me for making it."

"Tell me." I sighed. It couldn't be much worse than what he had told me already anyway.

"Last year when I made the arrangements with Gringotts for you, the access to the Potter family vaults, the Black family vault, the houses and all I overlooked an ancient wizarding law. There is this book in the Potter family fault, only the blood of a Potter can write in it, you have to write down the names of those who are allowed to have access to the family heirloom. The goblin explain that normally it would be my wife or betrothed, children and grandchildren could be given access to the vaults. Gringotts will only recognize the persons written done by the oldest Potter blood. I figured that since I had already promised you that one day I would marry you it would be alright. So I wrote down your name next to mine."

"Yes, and?" I asked impatiently. Fleur chuckled next to me, her face was in a certain state of shock but there was humor in her eyes. She knew what Harry was saying, she had worked at the bank long enough to know old laws and rules.

"After hearing the rumor I went to Kingsley for help." Harry continued, "He advised to go to Gringotts to find out if your mother could really do that, promising you to somebody when you are off age. According to Kingsley the goblins know everything about every old law that there has ever been, so he hoped they could give me some answers. Mister Grobbleston, who is our contact person at Gringotts, told me that they couldn't promise you to anyone else because you were already betrothed to me."

"What?"

"Apparently when I wrote down your name I bound you to me. Forever. In the Potter family a betrothal is forever until death takes you or death takes you. I didn't know Ginny. Honestly."

Ever seen somebody go from pale, to red, to white, to red and than to white again, well that's me, I didn't know if I was angry, shocked or just happy. Harry kept looking at me, his eyes pleading with me not to be angry. I tried to talk a couple of times, making Fleur chuckle but no sound left my mouth and than suddenly I realized what this meant.

"Mom is so going to kill us." I said as I broke out in a fit of giggles.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked surprised.

"Well…" I started as I gasped through the giggles. "If the rumor is true and mom is really looking for an other guy for me than she will find out rather quickly about this situation. Betrothals are registered at the ministry as well and if she want to promise me to somebody else than she has to ask the ministry for the official paper work. They won't be able to give her those."

"Let's just hope the rumors aren't true." Harry said darkly. "I really want to live with the idea that things can be solved between your mother and us."

"Yes, if she is really doing that, I would be so angry." Fleur put in.

"She was doing that to you as well. Remember all the times she tried to invite Tonks over to make Bill see the light." I said.

"Yes, that's why I'm telling you. I was very angry with Molly for that."

"I will be too. It will be a very big mistake of her to make." I growled.

"So you are not angry with me?" Harry asked when Drooble served desert. I was confused for a second with what he meant but quickly I remembered the betrothal.

"It isn't ideal and you still have to get done on one knee somewhere in the future but we both know we would end up together anyway. It doesn't change that much." I shrugged as I attacked the deep fried icecream.

After dinner we moved to the side of the house where a beautiful deck looked out over the garden, it was still nice and warm there as it looked out over the west side of the garden.

"Anything else bad happened today? Or was that enough to make your day horrible?" I asked Harry as I sat down.

"Wasn't that enough?" He asked.

"Yeah, well yes but you normally don't complain about your days, not even when the run ins with the press are bad, so I figured there was more."

"Okay, I had a run in with Greyback as well." Harry groaned.

"What!" I yelped.

"Nothing big, nothing to worry about but Arn asked me along on a raid on one of the Lestrange's manors, apparently we hit the jackpot and found the hiding place of Greyback. Sadly, when we realized it, it was already too late and Greyback apparated away under our nose. A good thing was that we found a lot of his items and plans, at least we got something to show for. We set him back for a while."

"That's at least something." Fleur commented.

"Master Harry?" Drooble suddenly squeaked next to us. I hadn't even heard him appear while I listened to Harry.

"Yes, Drooble."

"You have a visitor."

"Who?"

"Mister Arthur Weasley."

"Oh, let him come here, he'll have a drink with us." Harry said with a smile. That smile turned into a worried grimace as soon as the house-elf disappeared. I glanced at Fleur, she too looked worried.

"Just don't loose your patience." Harry whispered to me as he grabbed my hand.

"I'll try."

Soon dad came walking through the doors onto the deck, I sighed as I saw that his face was relaxed. It wouldn't have been that relaxed if mom was up to something that bad.

"Good evening, kids." Dad said with a warm smile.

"Hey dad." I said as I got up to give him a hug.

"Hi, darling. You look good, Harry and Drooble are sure taking care of you."

"They do."

"Hello Arthur." Harry said as he shook dad's hand.

After a quick hug for Fleur, dad sat down next to Harry.

"Fire-whiskey?" Harry asked as he held up a bottle, "Or elf wine."

"Fire-whiskey is perfect."

Harry poured dad and himself a glass while Drooble handed me and Fleur a glass of wine. Some light snacks appeared on the table and it all was looking like a happy family get-together.

"So." Dad said after taking a few sips. "I'm hoping you two haven't been terribly worried about the whole rumor."

"Was it all a rumor?" Harry asked carefully.

"Yes, it was. I don't know but Molly has been a bit off since the whole argument. She has been sleeping bad and has nightmares, she cleans the house but she doesn't enjoy it anymore." Dad sighed. "I think she is missing the house being full of kids but I told her about the rumor and what was spread through our world, she was honestly shocked and angry with the press."

"It can't be easy for her, for more than twenty years she had people around to take care for and now in one night she looses them all." Harry nodded.

"She created this situation herself." Dad reminded him.

"I know." Harry sighed. "I just wish it was different, I really would hate to loose the closest thing I have to a mom, I'm sure Ginny feels the same."

"I do." I said softly.

"Does she know that you are here?" Harry asked.

"I think so, I mean I said I would be away for a short while. I think she had guessed that I went to tell you about her reaction to the rumor."

"Didn't she ask where you were going?" I asked surprised. Mom always wanted to know where everybody was.

"No but I saw her look at the clock when I left the door. She had an old clock maker install a new option, 'at the kid's home', so I think she knows I'm here."

"I wish she had come with you." Harry sighed.

"I don't know how to solve this." Dad sighed. "I really understand that you won't make the first move but Molly is just as stubborn as you are Ginny. You didn't get that trait from me."

"I might have an idea." Fleur said suddenly. We all turned to look at her to hear what she had to say. "You know that I totally understand you, Ginny, right?"

I nodded, of course I knew that, I had been a bitch, just like my mom who didn't approved of Bill's decision to marry her.

"I think you should write your mom, not to agree with her, not to tell her that she is right, not even to tell her that you forgive her but just to tell her how much her words have hurt you and Harry. I'm not sure but maybe if she reads it she'll see how much this all is hurting the family and you in particular."

I thought about her words, I could write but could I do it without giving in to mom. I wasn't sure, mainly because I really missed my mom, her warm welcome and the careless interaction. I even missed her unwanted advise.

"It might work, Gin." Harry said.

"I know, it might work." I mused.

"Ginny, I know things will never be completely alright again but I really hope that we might soon be a family again." Dad said with a sad look in his eyes.

"Me too." I sighed. "I'll write her tomorrow but I can't promise anything. Once I have written the letter it's her game."

"I understand." Dad nodded.

Drooble refilled our glasses and served some more snack as the sun was slowly setting.

"Does mistress Ginny want her over-robes?" Drooble asked as he finished the glasses.

"No, not yet, maybe Fleur."

"No, me neither, I'm still loving the sun on my skin." Fleur said as she sipped her wine.

Dad drained his glass of fire-whiskey quickly as he glanced at his watch.

"Well, kids, I better be going before I have a fight with Molly as well. I'll stop by again later this week." He said as he got up.

"Arthur, I think I should tell you that Ginny and I will go on a holiday at the end of the month. With all that has happened we both need a break outside this country."

"Oh, where are you two going?" Dad asked honestly interested.

"Can't tell you now, I'll tell you Monday during court session, it's a surprise for Ginny." Harry smirked.

"You know she don't likes surprises." Dad commented.

"Yeah, I know but it's time she gets used to it, I would love to be able to surprise her some times."

"You do that enough already!" I yelled at him playfully.

"You are right Harry, she needs to get used to it. Anyway, I do understand that you want to get away for a while. How long will you be away?"

"Two maybe three weeks." Harry said.

"Okay, than I hope this whole thing gets solved before you guys leave."

Dad waved goodbye and walked out of the garden, leaving a strange silence as we all considered the things that have happened over the last two weeks. The conversation we had with my dad. I loved seeing my dad like this, just sitting and chatting about the worlds events.

I knew dad felt really bad about everything that had happened, for me but especially for Harry. Dad always liked Harry a lot and really cared for him as a son.

I had the feeling he was really shocked by mom's accusations against Harry and didn't really know how to handle it all. I wondered what was going on at the Burrow, if mom and dad would fight about this or if dad would act like nothing was wrong, or maybe mom would act like that.

I hated the fact that mom and I had an argument or a fight but the idea of my parents fighting about this made this even harder to bare than it already was.

"Ginny!" I heard Harry yell.

"What?"

"I asked if you are coming to bed too?"

I shook my head to clear it.

"Sorry, what?"

"Fleur has gone to feed Victoire before she goes to bed, do you want to go upstairs too or do you want to stay out here longer?" Harry asked.

"What ever you want." I said with a sad smile.

Harry smiled and got up, he walked up behind me and slipped his hands over my shoulders.

"Have I told you today that I love you." He whispered in my ear.

"This morning you did but I don't mind you repeating it." I chuckled as his breath tickled over my skin.

"Hmm, if you have heard it already than maybe you will allow me to show you how much I love you." His voice was rough and sultry, it made me shiver and erased all worries from my mind.

"I… think that's an excellent idea."

Before I could even turn around he scooped me up in his arms and carried me inside. I kissed him as he carried me up the stairs to our bedroom.

"Gin, you are making it impossible for me to carry you up safely." He moaned against my lips.

"You'll do fine."

He laughed and continued up the stairs. The door to our room opened magically, a handy spell from Drooble and Harry walked in to place me on the bed. When he straighten he looked at me, his eyes roaming over my body before meeting my eyes. There was a storm brewing in his eyes.

"What is it, love?" I asked softly.

His eyes flashed a bit brighter but the storm continued.

"I want you." He growled.

"You can have me." I said with a soft smile. "Like always."

He didn't need telling twice, instead of taking things slow and undress me carefully like he normally did, he waved his wand, making all of our clothes disappear.

"Harry." I gasped. I wondered for a second what had gotten into him but than I decided that I rather liked this more fast moving Harry.

He walked towards me his eyes locked with mine, almost prowling like a wild cat as he continued moving towards at me. I moved further back on the massive bed, carefully laying down on my back.

Harry's hands grabbed my feet and squeezed them softly, slowly he made his way up, never breaking of his intense stare. I was getting excited and wet due to the power his eyes held over me. His hands moved to the apex of my legs, his fingers softly brushing my soft sensitive flesh.

"Gods, Harry." I moaned as his fingers spread my lower lips and brushed my clit. I fought to keep my eyes open, not to break our soul binding connection but the feeling of his fingers slowly entering me made it hard.

He only played with me for a second or so, he continued moving his body over mine until he was perfectly lined up with me. His lips stole a soul scorching kiss as he pushed his hard cock in me with one hard move.

"Harry!" I screamed as he fully filled me. He didn't gave me a chance to get used to the feeling but started to fuck me without hesitation.

Again, for a tenth of a second I wondered what had gotten into Harry but with his second push into me all thought lost my mind. Harry took me hard and wild, just as I had begged him to do every time we had sex. No thoughts, all instincts.

"Fuck, Gin. Gods." Harry moaned as he lifted my leg over his shoulder to gain deeper access.

"Oh, Harry."

With the pace he set it didn't take long for us to reach the top of the mountain of pleasure. Within minutes we jumped off that cliff together, screaming and moaning each others name as we went.

Harry crashed down next to me, we were both out of breath and completely lost in the feeling of our orgasm.

"Wow." I breathed as I turned to face Harry. He smiled weakly at me but I could tell the storm in his eyes only got more intense. "What are you thinking?"

Harry closed his eyes and shook his head softly. I gasped as I saw tears rolling down his face. I reached out for his hands and pulled him to me, I knew that asking questions or pressing the matter wouldn't help much. Something was going on inside his head and it would come out when it was time, that was Harry. I was relieved that he let me pulled him to me, that it was okay for me to wiped away the tears from his face and kiss him softly.

"I just…" Harry whispered. "I have been thinking about it all day…"

"About what?" I asked softly as I kissed him softly.

"About the possibility of loosing even more people." Harry whispered in gasps. "Your parents, I kept thinking, what if in can't be fixed? After my visit to Gringotts it got even worse, what if I lost you? What if you would be angry and walk away from me?"

I closed my eyes and sighed, I should have been insulted by his lack of trust in us, in our bond but I understood were it came from. He had lost his parents even though the deep bond they shared, he had lost Sirius even though the bond they shared, he even lost his headmaster, his counselor, Harry trusted him to survive. All I could feel was sadness as he explained his feelings.

"I needed to make sure, Ginny." Harry pleadingly whispered, "I needed to make sure you were here, with me and real. I'm sorry."

Harry closed his eyes and turned onto his back, not looking at me. For a minute I wondered why he had felt the need to apologize, in my eyes there was nothing to apologize for. I understood what he felt, I remember when he just got back to me that I had felt the need to make sure he was real as well.

"Harry, for what exactly are you sorry?" I asked as I propped myself on my elbow so I could look at him. He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath.

"For using you like that." He whispered in a sigh. It was so soft that I wasn't even sure I heard it correctly but going by the look on his face I had.

"You are a pratt, you know that right?"

Harry groaned and turned to look at me.

"Gin, I just took you, not a loving word said or a loving touch made. Just because of what I needed."

"Yes, and do I look like I'm upset with that? Jeez, Harry, I have been begging you to take me for a year now, just like you just did. Sometimes foreplay and loving touches can be so overrated and a woman just want her man to show her how much he wants her."

Harry just continued to look at me, first furiously, I know he didn't agree with my ideas of what a sex life should be like, for him it was a loving and caring thing, too show how much you love each other and normally I would agree but there are times I wanted something a bit more wild. I would fantasize about him coming home and just taking me against the door because he needed me.

After a while the fire in his eyes died out and the anger left his face.

"There, much better." I said as I kissed him softly. "You shouldn't worry so much, you really need to learn to control your thoughts better, they run away with you. I'm worry too about the whole thing with mom but we are not going to loose her like you did with your parents and Sirius. It all will be better again before that happens."

"Do you promise?" he asked carefully.

"Yes, I promise." I was sure I could make that promise, dad was right mom and I were both stubborn and we both knew it and soon somebody was going to give in and talk. I knew I could do it now, I could go to her and tell her I'd forgive her but she would never learn from it and it would still hurt to remember her words.

"It's a big promise to make." Harry whispered.

"I know but I could go to her now and tell her I forgive her."

"She'll keep you locked up in the Burrow if you do that."

"No, she won't."

"Why not?"

"Because if she keeps me away from you, even force me to marry somebody else, I would die. Remember what you told me this afternoon."

"I'll never allow you to go to the Burrow alone again." Harry sighed while shaking his head. It made me chuckle a bit.

"I won't. Although I'm not angry anymore it still hurts, I won't go to her until she comes to us and sort this thing out but I will write that letter."

And I did, the next morning I was sitting in the office with a blank piece of parchment in front of me. Harry had taken Fleur and Victoire back to the Shell Cottage when Bill flooed in to tell them that he was on his way back, so I had a few hours alone to write the damn letter.

Next to me on the floor lay a huge pile of written letters that just weren't good enough. Some of them were too harsh, others too forgiving but not yet one of them described my feelings towards her perfectly.

"Drooble!"

"Yes, Mistress Ginny."

"Can you get me a glass of fire-whiskey, please."

"Of course."

The elf snapped his fingers and a bottle of fire-whiskey appeared on the desk next to a glass. He poured a glass for me and set the bottle in the cabinet next to the desk. I took the glass and bottomed it immediately with a sigh.

"Is you alright, Mistress Ginny?" The elf asked as he looked at me worriedly.

"Yes and no." I sighed.

"Maybe Drooble can help."

"I don't know, Drooble." I sighed. "Maybe you can, maybe you can't. I'm trying to write a letter to my mom. Like Fleur suggested yesterday but what ever I write down seem to be wrong."

"Like they aren't your words." Drooble said softly.

"Yes, how did you know…" I gasped.

"Drooble has watched master James writing many letters to mistress Lily, he always complained about letters not being right. Drooble can only say just write down the truth, even if it's difficult."

Well, that didn't make much sense, Drooble took the liberty to fill an other glass for me before disappearing, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I took an sip from the glass and shivered as the alcohol run down my body. Drooble's words really didn't make much sense, in all the letters before I had written down the truth, I told mom how I felt, explained it, so why weren't they right? _Just write down the truth_… it sounded so simple.

I picked up some of the crumpled letters on the floor and read them through. When I finished the last I realized the truth behind Drooble's words, every single letter was written with words I thought were appropriate or what I thought I should write down but never truly what I felt.

With a sigh and a sip of whiskey I turned to the blank page again.

_My dear mother,_

_Yes, I still write the word 'dear' because I do still love you and honestly I miss you._

_I'm not writing this letter to ask for forgiveness or give forgiveness, I'm writing just to let you know how I feel and why I haven't been at the Burrow yet. I feel sad that I can't write the word 'home' in combination with the Burrow anymore. I'm afraid it will never feel like my real home anymore. I feel that my decisions and my dreams aren't good enough for that, it feels like only a chaste young lady, in dresses and good house-hold spell work belongs there, I am not that person._

_You have hurt me. Your words about me have cut deep. The idea of my mother thinking me a whore just because I am following my dreams punched a whole through my chest and created a fresh scar that I'm not sure will ever heal completely but even after that I could have forgiven you if we had talked it out, if you only had listened to me and let me explain._

_I decided a long time ago that my life would be with Harry and I remember you being very happy with that, I honestly don't understand what has changed._

_I imagined my first weeks after school to be one of goodbyes and of new starts as I started my life as an adult. For a year I have dreamed about you and me packing up my stuff and moving it to where ever Harry and I would live happily. Yet it has become one of sadness and pain._

_I have been thinking about coming over and to talk this whole thing over but I couldn't. I am too afraid of loosing my temper and hurt somebody. I almost did that night when you came here. I almost hurt you physically. _

_I haven't made the first move because I know it won't help, it won't change anything because in your stubbornness you would walk over me like you have always done. Still, every day I have been wondering if it wasn't better if I just gave in._

_After the Witch Weekly article I had hoped that you would come and see me, that it was the push you needed to remember the truth but I think the anger is still too fresh with in you. _

_You also need to know how much this is hurting Harry. I know the words you said to him, they hurt him, mom. It was like he was loosing his mother again, last night he admitted that he is afraid of loosing his mother again, remember that when you are thinking about your words._

_I won't write again, nor will I try to contact you again, at the end of next week Harry and I will leave the country for a much needed holiday. We need to get away from it all before we are needed back here. I hope we will be able to solve this before that._

_I love you._

_Your daughter,_

_Ginevra Weasley._

I sighed and put down my quill. It still wasn't what I wanted to write, some bits were too harsh and it didn't even include the issues hat had arisen with the whole press out fall but I realized that they didn't really matter, nor did my unsatisfied feeling with the words on the paper. My feelings about it all were jumbled anyway it shouldn't be a miracle that my words about it were just a big of a mess.

I re-read the letter a couple of times before folding it and sealing it with the Potter seal ring. It was something Harry and I had starting to do when ever we wrote something official. Which we had done a lot lately with arranging the Potter business and the press outfall, we were expected to write a lot of official things. Harry said that letters with the Potter seal would be handled with more care because of the press scooping around everywhere.

Not wanting to wait any longer I went in search of our new owl Lil. Harry and I bought her the day after school, we desperately needed an owl and the little girly owl was to cute not to take. I found her on her perch in the kitchen, she was eager to fly out again and I let her.

I watched her fly away taking with her my feelings.

"It will be alright, mistress Ginny." Drooble said as he entered the kitchen.

"I hope so, Drooble, I really hope so."

For a week I watched the horizon, hoping to see Errol flying towards our house. I prayed for an answer but it didn't came. Every morning after Harry had left for the ministry I would stand in the kitchen watching the skyline for that ball of feathers.

After lunch I took a few minutes to watch the skyline again.

"Ginny?" I heard somebody call. I turned around to see the fireplace lit with emerald flames, Hermione's head was between them.

"Hey, are you home already?"

"Yeah, we just got back but Trinkle is doing everything for me, unpacking and all. We were wondering if it was alright to come over?"

"Yes, of course." I said as I stepped away from the fireplace. Hermione disappeared only to reappear in full body a minute later, followed only seconds by Ron. Both looked incredibly tan and relaxed.

"Hey Gin." Ron said as he pulled me in a hug.

"Hello very tan and very big brother." I giggled as I was nearly crushed. Thank Merlin that Hermione was more gentle in her hug or I would have broken my ribs.

"Where is Harry?" Ron asked as he looked around the kitchen.

"At the ministry." I sighed.

"Oh, still stuck in the courtroom?"

"Yes, and no. He has to attend many trails but he is also having fun planning a holiday I know nothing about."

Both Ron and Hermione laughed at my disgruntled face.

"Harry sure knows how to touch your buttons." Hermione laughed.

"Are you here to laugh at me or is there a better reason?" I snapped. My nerves were already frayed due to the no-reply from mom, I didn't need them to be stepping on my toes as well.

"Actually, can we sit somewhere to talk?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yeah of course." I said.

"The table on the deck is ready with drinks and food, mistress Ginny." Drooble said as he appeared in the living room.

"You are a life-saver. Thanks, Drooble."

"I never knew house-elves could be so… happy to help." Hermione said as she watched Drooble dancing away to his rosebushes.

"Is that really coming from your mouth?" I gasped as I sat down at the table.

"Yes, it is. Trinkle is just like him, so eager to please, so ready to help with everything, she even gives advise when I didn't even asked for it."

"Drooble does that too, when Harry isn't here to support me, Drooble will. It's so nice."

"How have you been doing?" Hermione asked concerned after they sat down.

"Alright I guess." I shrugged.

"I don't really believe that." Ron said caringly, "We just came from the Burrow, mom is a mess, we read your letter to her."

"She let you read it?" I gasped. I was completely shocked that she shared something so personal with my brother.

"Yes." Hermione said carefully. "We went to the Burrow to talk to Molly, we have spend the weeks away thinking about it all and we wanted to talk about it, solve it maybe. When we got there Molly was a nervous mess and your dad didn't know what to do. She kept writing and than burning the pages she had written. I asked her what was wrong, she showed me the letter before breaking down into tears."

"Seriously, Ginny, she's close to breaking down." Ron said.

"I know." I sighed. "I talked to dad two days ago. He told me that much."

"Than why haven't you been home yet?" Ron asked accusingly.

"I think my letter made that pretty clear, Ron." I snapped back. "Mom can be a wreck all she wants, it was she who made a scene out of everything, it was she that called her own daughter a whore, it was she that told Harry, he wasn't good enough anymore and took away the only mother he had known, so now it's she who has to apologize."

"I still can't believe she said that all to Harry." Hermione sighed, she shook her head sadly. "I really thought she wanted Harry as her son."

"I think she still wants that." I mused, "Deep down, she is just upset that things doesn't go her way. Hermione, she needs to learn that she can't control everything. If I go back now and apologize she would never learn, she would just brush it all off and go back to what she was doing before. I don't want that anymore."

We all sat silently, lost in our own thoughts for a while. Drooble refilled our glasses and placed some sweets and pastries on the table, which Ron just took and ate while he was staring away.

"What happened at the Burrow?" I asked after a while.

"We went there to talk to Molly and Arthur, to ask them if they wanted to be involved in planning the wedding. We thought that maybe a bit of contact with family would do the whole situation good. When we got there your father met us in the garden. He had noticed us and wanted to prepare Molly for our arrival. I never thought is was so bad." Hermione said.

"Mom is a real mess, I think she is trying to write you back but doesn't know what or how to write it. Dad says she is ready to apologize and forgive you but there are still moments she is angry with you and Harry." Ron continued.

"Did you talk to her?"

"Yes, a bit. She was angry with me as well, for moving in with Hermione before we got married. I explained to her that Hermione and I wanted to start our life together and why. After a lot of discussion she finally realized that there was no arguing with us. After that things became a bit more relaxed but she kept fumbling with your letter."

"I asked her what was up with the letter and she broke down in tears. She handed it to us to read. I thought you did a great job writing down your feelings."

"Thanks." I mumbled.

"Hmm… I asked your mother what she was going to do with this. She wailed that she didn't know, she wanted everything to be okay again but she was very disappointed in you and Harry for leaving her like that."

"We did not!" I spat angrily, loosing my temper in an instant. "She turns everything around, the old hag. I was planning on going ho….. back to the Burrow, I really was, Harry and I had discussed going there for a few weeks, spending time with mom and dad while sorting through my stuff. She just didn't want to listen, she came storming in here calling me a whore. That's when I drew the line and after hearing what she said to Harry, I don't know, it was just the last push."

"Did you really planned on that?" Ron asked.

"Yes, we had even considered taking them for a weekend to Paris or Barcelona. Once the Quidditch season begins I won't be home much and Harry will be incredible busy at the ministry as well, we just though it would have been nice to spend some time with them before all that."

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes for a second.

"I told your mom that she should write you." Hermione said. "She didn't know how, I told her just to write what she thought, what she wanted and what she thought would be the best."

"I'm afraid that won't work Hermione." I sighed. "What she wants is her five year old girl back at home to dote on. I can't do that. I honestly don't think it will ever be the same again."

"You'll never know." Hermione said carefully.

"I just hope everything is solved before Harry and I leave for our holiday." I said. "And speaking of a holiday, how was yours?"

"Oh, it was really great." Ron said with an all telling grin.

"Did you guys even left the hotel room?"

"Of course we did." Hermione huffed. "With my parents around we couldn't lock ourselves up. The south was amazing, the weather stayed really nice."

"Yeah, that was a nice week, Hermione's parents were so different from mom and dad, not as nosy or fuzzy, they just asked if we wanted to come along with them or if we had ideas of how to spend our day but I honestly liked Crete the best."

"Because you could stay in your hotel room." I chuckled.

"Ginny! Of course we didn't do that. Crete is brilliant for wizards and witches, there is a very lively magical community that has been there ever since the Minoans. It was so interesting, I totally understand what got Bill hooked on Curse-breaking in countries with ancient civilizations."

"It was so funny, she was going on and on about the old curses she read about and magical places she felt. I had my own tour guide every where we went. The weather was so great, sometimes even too warm but we really needed the time away." Ron explained.

We continued talking about their holiday, it seemed a bit strange that last year the idea of going on a holiday alone would be shot down before it could grow any beyond a dream, now we were all going on a holiday without mom and dad. Maybe it had to do with the current situation but it was still a strange thing.

Harry got home late. As soon as he walked in the conversation died, both Ron and Hermione looked up at my wizard. Strangely they kept looking at him,. I didn't know what got them so enthralled but I was too distracted by Harry that I didn't worry about it. Harry had a huge grin on his face told me he had a good day, I didn't know if it was at the ministry or with planning the holiday but the mischief in his eyes told me that he wasn't going to tell me anyway.

"Hey Ron, Hermione. Back already?" Harry said say he quickly joined us at the table. Ron and Hermione both continued to look at Harry like they had seen a ghost. It took me a few seconds to figure out why. Harry did look a lot happier than he had ever done but the big change where due to his clothes and the way he was owning them. Harry had totally changed to wizards clothes and robes, especially when he spend his days at the ministry and he looked good in it. Today he was wearing a dark grey shirt, black trousers and dragon hide boots. His outer robes where already gone but I know he had put his new dark red robes over it.

"Cat got your tongue, Hermione?" Harry asked when they didn't react.

"What?" Hermione gasped as she shook her head. "Oh sorry, Harry. It will take some time to get used to seeing you in wizarding clothing like that."

"Gin, loves it and I really have no reason to venture out in the muggle world much at the moment." Harry shrugged. "Anyway, how was your holiday?"

During dinner Hermione and Ron told us into detail about Crete and the South coast, about the tours they did and the people they met. It sounded amazing and I decided that some day I would visit Crete as well.

After a while the conversation shifted towards the latest gossips. Ron and Hermione had read about the rumors from earlier that week but they figured that if it was true we would contact them. We also talked about family gossip, mainly about Luna and Charlie, who seemed to be having a great time together. Hermione had some news about Lavender, whom she had met during their time south, Lavender was dating someone new. Hermione didn't trust the guy because he kept asking funny questions about Harry. Harry wrote down the guy's name just in case.

It got late that evening, so late that I fell asleep on the sofa after we moved inside. Harry, Ron and Hermione discussed the things that happened at the ministry while they had been gone, things I had already heard. I never noticed Ron and Hermione leaving.

When I woke up very early the next morning, there was a tapping sound on the window. Disorientated I turned towards the sound, I got stuck in the blankets that were covering me and I quickly realized that I wasn't on the sofa anymore, I was in my bed. Harry would have brought me upstairs when I fell asleep on the sofa. The tapping noise continued.

With a groan I opened my eyes and turned to look at the window.

Errol!

I almost fell as I rushed out of the bed to open the window for the family owl. After a bit of fumbling I opened the window and Errol hoped in, only to forget that there wasn't a wide still to land on and the poor owl crashed to the floor.

"Stupid owl." I muttered as I picked the pile of feathers up. I removed the letter from it's leg before placing him of the cabinet were a small bowl of water was placed for Lil.

My hands were trembling as I went back to bed and sat against the head board. I stared at the envelope for a long time, it was my mother's writing. I was afraid to open it, afraid to learn what she had written.

"Aren't you going to read it?"

"Harry?" I gasped. "I didn't know you were awake."

"You almost fell out of our bed, of course that would wake me up." Harry said as he wrapped his arm around my stomach and lay his head against me. "Read it." Harry whispered.

"I'm afraid." I muttered back.

"Don't be. It's better to know."

I closed my eyes and sighed, he was right, I shouldn't wait. I had promised myself I wouldn't live in fear anymore. Shaking like crazy I opened the letter.

_Dear Ginny,_

_I honestly don't know what to write. I want you home, the Burrow is your home. I want you back where you belong, with your family. I know I said Harry was like a son to me but all I feel now is how he has taken you from me, without doing it properly. _

_I am sorry that he feels like he has lost a mother all over again but maybe he should think about how he has behaved and how he has disrespected my rules. I'm sorry, that's just how I feel._

_I also feel that you should be more considerate towards your mother. Of course you can have your own dreams but all in time. You are still too young to know what a good future is for you. _

_I wish things would have been different, maybe that we were planning a happy wedding together for you but remember you choose this path._

_Love Mom._

I read the letter three time before breaking into pieces. My heart broke as I lost the hope of ever reconcile with my mother. At least I had Harry, he held me, his strong arms wrapped around me as I cried. He was here with me.


	44. In its right place

_**Oh my God! I'm so sorry it took so long to update... As I told before my mom needed surgery and things went not as expected, she's okay now but my dad broke down and needed care... once everything was alright again I got sick! anyway, I'm able to write again...**_

_**I hope you will like this chapter! Please let me know you thoughts! so please review... I also like to know what you wanted to see happen, I have many ideas but I need inspiration...**_

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**44. In its right place.**

7th of July. 1999.

"What are you smiling about?" Harry asked me.

"Happy thoughts." I chuckled.

"Please tell me?"

"You always want to know what I'm thinking." I mocked complained.

"Especially when you look so happy." Harry laughed.

I shook my head and sighed, he would continue harassing me until I told him so I could better give in now and avoid the continues questions.

"I was thinking about mom and the morning she came storming into our house."

Harry laughed out loud.

"Yes, as shocked as I at first it was indeed very funny when you remember it."

I laughed and nodded. I closed my eyes as I remember the scary, shocking, happy and funny images that lingered in my mind. It happened on that morning I broke down over her letter, it was now over a week ago. What started as a bad day turned out to be a rather good one.

_There was a loud banging on the front door. Neither Harry and I made a move to open it. The letter that was still clutched in my hand made it impossible for either of us to move. Although I __felt so lost I still noticed tears rolling down into my hair, they came from Harry. We both lost all the hope we had._

_Still the banging continued. Harry groaned and pulled the thick blanket over us, capturing us in a comfortable darkness._

"_Madam, please. The master and mistress are sleeping." We heard Drooble shout."Madam be silent!"_

_Harry lifted the blanket a bit and looked at my with raised eyebrows, I shrugged and pulled the blanket back down, I was in no mood to face anyone.__ Drooble would be perfectly capable to deal with who ever it was, I fully intended to stay under the blanket for the rest of the day. _

_Still that idea was shattered as I heard my mom's voice reaching our floor._

"_I have to speak to Harry and my daughter!" _

"_No, madam." Drooble said stern, "You is to wait in the sitting room while I ask master Harry if he wants to meet you."_

_Harry and I kept looking at each other listening to my mom's tirade. What she was doing here and why on earth she wanted to talk to us after sending that horrid letter was beyond me. I honestly was afraid that she had come here to take me away from Harry, or that she would throw in an other fight. I was sure that I would lose my temper and hex her if she started to yell at me or Harry again. I felt my hand moving towards the cabinet where my wand lay._

"_But they won't want to speak to me." Mom wailed. _

"_Than you leave." Drooble answered, his voice started to become threatening._

"_But I can't, I made a mistake, there will be a misunderstanding. I have to put this right!" mom yelled._

"_Now, for the last time madam, wait in the sitting room, I'll inform master Harry." Drooble's words sounded final and we never heard a reply from mom. A few minutes later there was a soft knock on our door and Harry threw off the blanket._

"_Come in, Drooble."_

"_Drooble, is very sorry, master. I is not wanting to wake you up." The elf said as he bowed his head._

"_It's okay, we were awake already."_

"_Mrs. Weasley is here to talk to you. Do you wish to see her, master?"_

_Harry looked at me, the question clear on his face, did we want to meet her when she just broke our hearts like that. She said she had made a mistake, that she caused a misunderstanding, I wondered what it was all about, was there still hope? Carefully I nodded to Harry and sighed with fear and emotion._

"_Okay, Drooble, tell Molly we will meet her and than come back to help us get dressed, please." Harry said. The house elf nodded and disappeared. Harry and both got up and headed for the bathroom, a nice long relaxing shower had to wait for now, I decided to just wash the tears out of my face and get my hair straight again._

_Drooble returned quickly and sorted through our clothing to get us something fitting. He selected charcoal grey robes for Harry and a black robe for me, it was beautifully decorated with light bleu lace. Drooble helped my into the light corset and did up my hair while Harry was able to dress himself rather quickly._

"_You need to learn me how to do that." I grumbled at him as Drooble finished with my clothing._

"_It's only the corset that takes so much time, mistress Ginny. Drooble could pick out dresses and robes without them for convenience."_

"_That would be nice, Drooble, a few easy dresses would be handy."_

_Harry turned to me and looked at me with worry._

"_Are you going to be alright?" He whispered as he pulled me in his arms._

"_As long as you are there with me." I murmured against his chest._

"_I will be."_

_We picked up our wands and headed for the living room. When we reached the ground floor and the door to the living room I stopped. Harry turned to me and took my hands. _

"_It will be alright. I won't let her harm us ever again." He whispered and kissed me softly. After a few seconds I pulled back and nodded. Harry took the last steps and opened the door for me._

"_Harry! Ginny!" Mom immediately screamed. She got up from the sofa and hurried towards us but we both took a step back. I did notice Harry stepping slightly in front of me and his hand twitching towards his wand. I don't know why we didn't trusted the situation, maybe the hurt and heartbreak ran that deep and with all the rumors flying around it was hard to judge what was the truth in the first place._

"_Molly! Easy!" I heard from the corner and turned to see my dad standing next to the fire place. He looked tense but hopeful at the same time._

"_Oh." Mom said in a short breath, her smile left her face and sadness filled her eyes as she saw Harry's hand hovering over his wand._

"_Hello mother, dad." I said. Even to me my voice sounded stiff and strained but I managed to smile at dad._

"_Molly, Arthur." Harry said, he sounded a bit more friendly._

"_I'm sorry Harry to barge into your house like this." Dad said as he shook Harry's hand, "but a mistake was made that needed to be corrected immediately."_

"_So I heard." Harry said with a soft chuckle. "Have a seat."_

_I sat down next to Harry, as far away from my mother as I could, I still couldn't give in to trusting her motives to be here. I was surprised that she didn't talked, yelled or rattled on and on about why she was here, she just sat next to dad, quietly._

"_Why are you here?" I asked stiffly as we were all seated._

"_Oh, Ginny." Mom said in a loud sobbing voice, I had forgotten how loud she could be, her sobs were ringing in my ears. I wasn't sure if it annoyed me or if I felt bad for her. "I'm so sorry, I couldn't intercept that letter anymore."_

"_What letter, this one." I held up the damp and crumbled bit of parchment. "The one you send this morning to break our hearts." I knew I was being harsh but I couldn't help it. _

"_Yes, yes. I'm so sorry. I never meant to send that letter." Mom wailed._

"_But you did, it still arrived here. We still read it." I snapped._

"_Ginny, will you please let your mother talk." My father spoke up. I glared at him but shut my mouth and turned back to mom._

"_Please, Ginny." She whimpered."Please understand. I was angry, yes, I did felt that way for a long time. I felt betrayed by you and robed of my girl by Harry. I had other ideas for how your life should go."_

_S__he started to cower behind dad, I knew my glare had turned icy and I realized I was loosing my control, Harry placed his hand on my leg and squeezed it softly, snapping me out of it._

"_Ginny, please. I try to explain it properly." Mom whispered. "I always imagined you to come home with a nice boy after school, somebody who could take care of you. He would ask your father for your hand and we would be planning a wedding, I imagined that after that you would live happily in a small wizards home and grant me grandchildren."_

"_What about a career?" I snapped, "What about a job, a life, what have I been studying for all these years if all you wanted me to do is breed red heads!"_

"_Ginny!" Dad spoke up again. _

"_What dad? It's the truth, if she wanted me to breed little brats than she could have kept me home and teach me how to do the house-hold spells properly."_

"_Ginny, I have never done anything else than go to school and raise my kids and I loved every minute of it. For me it was completely natural, all I wanted was to have a large and happy family. It's very hard for me to imagine an other life.__ I never realized that there were women who didn't want that life." Mom carefully tried to explain. "I saw Fleur working but I knew she wanted a family of her own, so I guessed that younger women had the same idea of life and my dream for your life became more and more solid. Until that day at Hogwarts…"_

"_I never gave you any indications that I want to have children or get married__ right out of school."_

"_No, you never talked about it but I saw you with Teddy, here with Christmas and at the memorial, I just assumed that you were growing to the idea of a family."_

"_I just signed a five year contract to play professional Quidditch, how in Merlin's name would that fit into the picture of me being a mom right out of school." I argued._

"_I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't think of that at all, I was just too caught up in my own dream, especially after the war, we had a future again, I could dream again of beautiful things. I'm so sorry Ginny."_

_It was silent, it seemed like she felt she had explained enough to make everything alright again but I wasn't there yet, she had put us through so much pain that I couldn't leave it with only a broken dream._

"_What about the letter, the words you had written, what about all the things you said about Harry?" I whispered._

"_I should never ha__ve said or written them. I was angry, upset and hurt by the fact that all my children were leaving me. I never imagined the Burrow empty."_

"_We weren't planning on leaving immediately." I told her. "If you would have listened __and not have thrown a hissy fit we would have stayed for at least an other week or two but all you could rant about was about how I was a whore to go and live together with a man without being married."_

"_I'm sorry." Mom whispered._

"_Sorry doesn't get you far." I snapped._

"_What do you want me to say than?" Mom wailed._

"_What about that you understand that I'm not like you? What about that you accept that can't control my life. What about saying something to Harry?"_

_It was silent for a long time, to release some of the build up anger and stress I got up and started to pace. I didn't know what mom was thinking but if she thought that 'sorry' was enough than she was very wrong._

"_Molly, what do you really want?" Harry suddenly asked, his voice was cold as well. I sighed in relieve that we were at least on the same page._

"_I want everything to be okay again.__ I want you all to come home. I want to be able to talk to you all again. Be a family like we use to be."_

"_I honestly think that can't happen, Molly." Harry said reasonable, his voice still calm. "__Things have changed."_

_Mom started to sob and protest but my father stepped in and glare at her. It was clear that they had discussed visiting us thoroughly, dad had laid down some clear ground rules. One was probably 'no arguing'._

"_Harry, I understand that things have changed but isn't there something we can do, some way to make it right again?" Dad asked._

_Harry looked at me for a second, like he was measuring my feeling about it all. His eyes were questioning me. I sighed and sat back down next to him again. I hoped Harry knew what to say, I wanted to shout at mom, tell her to fuck off and leave us to be, to go to St. Mungo's and have the stupid dreams researched, I wanted to yell at her how she badly had hurt us._

"_We need to take this slow Arthur." Harry said slowly, his eyes still locked on mine, like he was reading every emotion I was feeling. "the things that have been said hurt a lot, it will take time to __find a place for it."_

"_Things can't go back to what they were, mom." I sighed. "our fight changed a lot, besides__ that we have grown up, we are adults now, starting work, it's only normal that things change."_

_I sat down next to Harry and stared at the floor, waiting for my parents or Harry to say something._

"_Of course." Dad said slowly. "we all have to learn to live with the changes."_

"_What about…" Mom started but she looked hesitant at me._

"_Yes?"_

"_What about starting with something fun. Tomorrow Hermione and I had planned on going looking at things for the wedding, why don't you join us, Ginny?"_

"_Do you think Hermione wants that?" I asked carefully._

"_Yes, she said she wanted to invite you but wasn't sure… It will be a great surprise for her and it will be fun. If you want to go, that is."_

_I looked at Harry, his eyes were smiling but his face showed no emotion, it was only for me to see. He wanted it, he wanted me to go along with mom's idea, he wanted things to get better. I realized that he had forgiven mom for what she had said already. Now it was my turn._

"_Okay, I'll come with you two tomorrow."_

_Suddenly a loud squeal rang through the room and suddenly two strong arms were wrapped around me. "Oh thank Merlin! Oh, Gin, I'm so happy!" Mom kept on sobbing and squealing. It felt a bit awkward but I tried to calm her down a bit. Well __it was awkward until Harry broke out in laughter, apparently my face was really funny._

"_What about the letter?" I asked when I was finally able to breath._

"_Stupid mistake. I had written so many letters even put some already in an envelope. The letter I wanted to send you lay on the kitchen table, the rest in the living room, I handed Errol one from the living room before realizing that the right one was in the kitchen."_

"You know Harry, I still don't know why it all was so funny. Thinking back about it, I mean."

"Oh, I can tell you why it was so funny. Your face for one, especially when you agreed to come shopping for wedding stuff with Hermione and your mom was almost killing you with her bear like hug. I don't think I have ever seen you look so funny, shocked, happy and awkward in one face."

"But that was the only funny thing that happened."

"No, your mom was funny as well. She was absolutely terrified of you. She would hide behind your dad every time she said something. Not to forget that silly goofy smile on her face during breakfast, or the false loud singing when she left."

"The singing was indeed funny, I never thought my mom could be so crazy. It almost made me regret agreeing with her." I chuckled.  
"I'm just happy things got better before we left." Harry sighed.

"Yes, I don't know if I could relax like this if it wasn't better." I sighed.

"Hmmm." Harry murmured, he just sounded lazy.

To be honest we were being incredible lazy but that are the perks of being on a holiday, a long far away holiday.

After the last Death Eater trials ended on Friday Harry got home and asked Drooble to help us pack, we were leaving the next morning. I had been begging him to tell me where we were going but he would just smile and tell me to pack for nice and warm weather.

On early Saturday morning we left for destination unknown, at least for me it was unknown. Harry took me on a side along apparition to London, where a cab was waiting for us to take us to the airport. An airport for crying out loud! He expected me to fly in those muggle death traps.

Harry told me not to throw a fit or panic, if I could fight Death Eaters without flinching a flight on a plane would be a piece of cake. Easy for him to say.

I have to admit traveling with muggles was very…interesting, to say the least. The airport was big and filled with Muggles, we even noticed some badly dressed wizards and witches. I was so pre-occupied with what was happening around me and watching the crazy things muggles did that I never noticed where we were going.

Later when we landed safely I knew he was right, flying on a plane wasn't as dangerous or as scary as facing the Death Eaters. It was the most comfortable way of traveling a long distance.

We landed in Kenya! I was completely shocked and squealed loudly when I heard from the flight attendant where were going. The whole plane looked at me, embarrassing!

Harry couldn't help but laughing at me, he had waited for my reaction for almost a month and he wasn't disappointed.

Harry had rented a luxurious villa at the beach within a big hotel complex, the wild-life reservations were close by to do day trips or a long safari. Harry told me that he had made plans for a safari and see the wild life later during our stay but we would stay at the park for the first week. We both needed time to relax.

The villa belonged to a large muggle hotel complex, there were a lot of guests and people running around but there were absolutely no wizards or witches staying here and it was perfect. Nobody recognized us, no reporters wanting to jump us and nothing dangerous besides thieving monkey's. It was a perfect little slice of heaven.

The Villa that was now ours for as long as we wanted it, had a large front porch that looked out over a white beach and blue ocean, it was surrounded by palm trees and everywhere you could hear wildlife. It had room service and access to all things muggles could provide. I really loved it and yes, I knew Harry was spoiling me.

Ever since we arrived Saturday evening we had been exploring the park, enjoyed the beach and the water, ate as much as we could, the muggle cooking was really good and we had done absolutely no magic what so ever, besides that small little spell in the morning. It felt strange not to use magic at all and yet it was a relieve. It felt much more relaxed, like a certain energy was settling and stopped draining us.

I knew Harry kept his wand with him at all times, just in case but we both felt completely safe in the company of these muggles.

"Hey, Gin?" Harry asked. He was laying next to me on one of the beach beds. Even they oozed luxury, being comfortable and fluffy soft.

"Yes."

"Should we do something tomorrow?"

"Like what?"

"I read something about an Elephant sanctuary, it isn't far from here and the hotel owners organizes trips to there. I thought it could be interesting to see something like that."

"What kind of sanctuary is it?"

"They rescue orphaned young elephants and integrate them in this large herd they have so they can have a happy normal life."

"Sounds like something interesting indeed. Yes, lets see if we can go tomorrow." I said with an happy smile. I was happy to have some sort of a plan to do something, laying in de sun and reading muggle romantic novels was getting boring.

The elephant sanctuary was great, the hotel arranged a private tour by one of the professors working there. The man told us all about how they rescued the baby elephants when they received news of their mom being killed by poachers or died due to natural causes. They let us help with feeding the younger ones and showed us around the reserve where they would live once they reached adulthood.

It was an amazing day and it was just the start of our holiday.

Harry and I planned to stay in Kenya for two or three weeks, during the second week we went out for a four day tent safari. It was the first time I missed magic.

The tent we had to share was so damn small! I was used to tents that you could walk in, have a table and a kitchen, a proper bed and all but muggles had a completely different idea of what a tent should be like. There was barely room enough for the two of us to sleep in, let alone store your bags. At night I really missed the magical tents, just because I miss the freedom of space but we couldn't do any magic at all. It was too dangerous with a group of ten muggles around us.

Hermione had given us an early birthday present, a muggle camera, according to Harry a really good one but you needed special electrical equipment to view the pictures. Harry had showed me how to use it and how to view the pictures on the small screen, it took some time getting used to it but I really enjoyed taking pictures. We really got some beautiful ones during the safari.

The animals we saw during those four days were incredible. Lions, wild Elephants, Giraffes, Rhino's. Monkey's, Zebra's, even a Leopard. I was completely fascinated by the wild cats. Harry even suggested that it might be my animagus form, I felt so drawn to them. I was intrigued by that idea but decided that I wasn't going to try and be an animagus just yet. It would wait until my Quidditch career would end.

As our time in Kenya flew by the stress that we had endured over the years left us. After the safari I noticed a real change in Harry. He became more open, the moments that I found him lost in thought and fear were gone as were the moments in which he would carry the weight of the death on his shoulders. He could sit in the lounge chair, stare at the water and smile at nothing.

He started to retell stories about his year away, something he had never done before. I knew he kept the difficult parts to himself for now but he started to let go of the smaller things. He started to be able to even smile while he was telling silly or stupid things. It was good.

I felt lighter myself too, more happy and able to smile and not worry constantly. I found myself letting go of the past as well, as Harry told his stories I told him mine, the whole story of the darkest year at Hogwarts.

But the real change came at night, the nightmares that had been a constant for the last year left us both.

It was two days after the safari that I woke up well rested and completely at ease in Harry's arms. It was the first night in four years that I hadn't been dreaming about loss and pain. It startled me.

"What's wrong?" Harry grumbled as I shot up with shock.

"Nothing." I breathed. "nothing to worry about, lets go back to sleep."

"Gin?" Harry groaned, "You know you can't lie to me."

I groaned and felt back onto the bed, I turned to face him and gave him the happy smile I felt bubbling under my skin.

"You look so happy, so peaceful" He breathed, "for the last few days you do.".

"I feel like I'm ten pound lighter, happier and bubbly. I realized just now that the nightmares are gone. Since we got here they were getting less, this night they were completely gone. I feeling like dancing and singing and so well rested."

"I guess we both needed a long holiday. No Death Eaters, no werewolves, no magic and no people following us around." Harry nodded.

"I'm so happy you feel it too, for days now you have looked so much more relaxed, happy and all." I whispered.

"Yes, of course." Harry smiled. "Being away from the constant tension magic creates releases a lot of the stress. Dumbledore told me once that magic creates this almost electrical tension, I just never knew how much it was effecting me. This holiday is perfect, it makes everything so calm, like being able to breathe deeper, it makes me forget about everything but you."

I couldn't help but smile like a crazy woman.

"I can't tell you how good it feels. It has been so long since I felt so light, so calm and happy, I think it was even before I started at school." I told him.

"I never felt so peaceful, ever, maybe in my first year of life but I can't remember, with the Dursley's I always had to walk on my toes and at school there was always something dark going on. I never thought that stepping out of the magical life for a while would make me so happy."

"You never really had a fair life but we'll make it the perfect life from now on." I promised him.

"It isn't about fair or happy. I think I needed to be raised humble and away from the magical world to be able to fight Tom Riddle like that. If I was raised by my dad I don't think I would have been able to be so selfless, he was a good man but at the age of sixteen he just started to grow up, where as I needed to think like an adult already. Everything that happens, happens for a reason. Just like this holiday, we both needed this to happen. I needed to get away from it all and get some kind of perspective on everything, when we go back I'll be able to handle anything, Death Eater, press, werewolves, even your mother. I think the same goes for you."

"Do you still want to go back to the magical world?" I asked. I knew he was so happy right now, he looked so much more at ease than I had ever seen him, it was hard to believe that he wanted to go back to that what caused him all that pain.

"Of course. It's home." Harry smiled. "It has always been home but we really need to take the time every year to get away from it all."

"Hmm, long holidays very year… I like that idea." I giggled. Harry grabbed me closer to him and kissed me passionately.

"I can live with a three week get-away every year, with only you." He murmured against my lips.

"Hmm, me too."

We celebrated our new found peace between the sheets. Harry wasn't only more happy, he was also a lot more passionate, _I didn't even considered that possible_. He took his time to explore me over and over again, never giving me the chance to return the favor, he claimed that he was happy enough playing with me. it was almost noon when we finally got out of bed.

After a long walk along the beach, celebrating again in a secluded lagoon we decided to celebrate our new found peace and quiet even more thorough with an elaborate dinner late that night. The dinner setting was beyond romantic. Harry had asked for a table close to the sea, with candles and wine. I half expected him to pop the question and strangely I wouldn't have minded. I was ready to be his wife, not that I would have ever told anyone.

My whole perception of being Harry's wife had changed during our first two months after school. I had always learned from my mom that a good wife would cook, clean and raise children. No future career and no dreams besides those of her children but I knew now that Harry didn't expect that from me. I learned that with Harry I could have my freedom, my career and a family, he would give me everything I want.

But he didn't ask… I wasn't surprised or felt disappointed, it was just the perfect evening. anything extra wasn't needed.

"Do you want to stay an other week?" Harry asked when we woke up the next day.

"I could stay here for an other month." I sighed.

"Me too, sadly we can't do that. I'm sure you want a few days of Quidditch practice before the training season starts and Arn would probably go crazy if he can't dump the free Death Eaters cases on my desk soon."

"I know, I really want to get into practice, I think I need to get back into shape but strangely I don't miss magic as much as I expected. The muggle way of life doesn't seem so bad, just less exciting."

"Yes, I think you described it perfectly, less exciting but I do miss our friends and family." Harry said.

"So one more week?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just one. We'll make it a good one." Harry smiled.

Harry did make sure our last week in Kenya was magical. We travelled to some special places and had some great encounters with the wild life. I really enjoyed visits to sanctuaries and reservations, especially when Harry made sure we had a personal guide to explain everything.

We were both dreading the end of the week when the time would arrive for us to go home but the last day something happened that made us rather eager to leave.

The last day Harry and I wanted to go to Mombasa with a guide to find some last minutes gifts for family and friends. It was a lovely day, warm and sunny, no worries as we strolled through the markets and shops that were considered safe for tourists. In these places it was easy to find funny, small, big or beautiful gifts. We were about to leave when Harry stiffened and I felt his hand twitch towards his wand.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Magic, strong magic. Can't you feel it?" He whispered back.

I closed my eyes for a second and breathed in deeply. I had been living on a pink cloud for the last week or so and wasn't able to really focus but I tried. Within a few seconds I felt the tingling sensation of magical residue in the air. I opened my eyes and looked around. We had visited the city before, Harry had felt the magic then as well but it wasn't really strong of dark and we never expected Kenya to be completely free from magic so we ignored it.

"Yes, I feel it as well. It's stronger than the last time we were here. Like more recent." I whispered.

"Yes, exactly. It feels a bit off. Familiar or something."

Not trusting the situation and the change completely we quickly followed our guide and asked him if he could get us back to the hotel as soon as possible. He could see on our faces that something was off but he didn't ask questions, he just rushed us to the car and drove of.

"Oh shit." I heard Harry swear.

"What?"

"There, look." Harry pointed out the window to a small road of the main road. It was hard to miss what he was pointing at. Blonde curl, acid green outfit, green glasses and a quill in hand.

"Rita Skeeter!" I cursed.

"I don't think she has seen us." Harry said as he watched the horrid woman.

"What is she doing here?" I whispered.

"Don't know but I can guess." Harry whispered darkly.

"You think they finally found out where we are staying?"

"Probably."

When we reached the hotel and asked for our key at the front desk the manager came walking up to us.

"Mister Potter, can I have a word please?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"In private, please."

The manager lead us to one of the comfortable benches outside the main office.

"Please have a seat, this won't take long."

Harry and I sat on one to the sofas together while the manager took the lounge chair.

"First, I wanted to ask you, you are leaving tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, we never planned to stay longer than two or three weeks, we want to stay longer but we both have to start work soon."

"I understand, I hope your stay was as you wished."

"Of course, it has been perfect and we are sure coming back one day."

"That's nice to hear." The manager smiled before turning serious. "Now, a more important matter. This morning shortly after you left a strange woman showed up at our desk. She asked if a mister Harry Potter or Ginevra Weasley were staying here. Now, my front desk staff doesn't know your real name as you requested so they told her 'no'. As it is our policy to keep our clients information secret they could have never told her anything, but I considered it strange that she knew your full name while you specifically said that nobody in this country knows you and Miss Weasley. I thought you might wanted to know."

Harry nodded thoughtfully for a second.

"You said, a strange woman, could you tell me why she was strange?" Harry asked him.

"Oh, she was dressed strangely, to many clothes for this climate, she spoke with an British accent, her clothes were bright green and her hair was blonde with tightly fitted curls. I thought she looked like a reporter. Do you know this woman?"

"Yes, she is indeed a reporter from back home. She is one of the many reasons we needed this holiday."

"I understand." The manager nodded professionally. "You'll be save here for an other night, I honestly don't think she thought my people were lying."

"I know." Harry said. "I would never accuse your personnel of anything, the problem is that, that woman is cunning. She was only a few yard away from us when we noticed her in Mombasa. That's why we came back so early."

"Don't worry, mister Potter. She won't interrupt your last evening here."

Harry and I said a quick goodbye and returned to our rented Villa.

"You know, right now I'm happy we are leaving tomorrow." Harry admitted with a sigh.

"I know, it's perfect here but with her bugging around you just never know. Do you think she will find us?"

"I don't trust her, Ginny. She was too close for my liking and she has already been here, she must have noticed our magical residue, you still used magic here." Harry sighed, he looked out over the porch and sea. "Tonight we'll pack and sleep, we won't talk about future plans, home, Quidditch, work or anything too private, she might fly in here without us noticing."

"That means no sex either."

"Heavens no." Harry yelped. "That would be the nail to my coffin, having her fly around here when we are… Merlin that's too disgusting to even think about."

Even with our worries about that damn woman we managed to have a beautiful last evening in Kenya. Candle lit dinner at the beach, slowly dancing on non existent music, walking down along the waterline enjoying the last rays of the sun before turning in for our first chaste sleep of our holiday.

During that dinner Harry and I talked about general things, family, friends and work. Especially the stories Harry told me about his adventures at school with Ron and Hermione made me miss them a lot. It was than that I realized it was time to go home, it was time to see my family and friends again. So I wasn't that sad when I woke up in the morning and having to get ready to leave.

"You don't look sad to leave." Harry commented when we settled down in the plane.

"I'm not. It was amazing and I really would like to go back some day but I'm ready to go back home. I missed Ron and Hermione a lot."

"Yeah, me too. I missed their bickering a lot." Harry's voice was thick of sarcasm.

"Yes, gods, I have missed their fights over everything. Hermione should be happy that Ron isn't interested in planning their wedding or they would never have a wedding."

"Probably." Harry chuckled. "We should call a meeting soon with the D.A. and family to discuss a speech for the wedding, it would have to be all about their constant bickering."

Our flight home was very comfortable. Something I would never had thought about those muggle death traps before our trip but I was happy to be safely back on English soil.

"How are we going to get home?" I asked as we waited for our luggage.

"Cab to the leaky cauldron and floo from there, I think." Harry shrugged

"The whole wizarding world will know we are back." I groaned. I didn't really fancied people staring at us constantly, yet Harry had other ideas.

"Yeah, that's the idea, let them see that we are still happy together."

"I never knew you were that media horny." I joked.

"I'm not but I have enough of all the false stories about us."

Our luggage arrived quickly and soon Harry and we making our way through the gate. Harry and I were quietly talking about what we would find in the wizarding world after being away for three weeks when we heard our name being called loudly.

I looked up to were the sound came from and saw a bunch of red heads and a brown bushy haired girl waving happily at us.

"Harry! Ginny!" Hermione yelled as she ran towards us.

"Hey Hermione." I squealed. "What are you doing here? How did you know we were getting back today?

"Harry told us?" Hermione said as she hugged me closely.

"What? How?" I asked surprised, glaring at Harry.

"D.A. jewelry, I learned him how to send messages to a specific person only before you left, he has been sending small messages to Ron to update us on your whereabouts and when you would get back. Just in case."

"Harry!" I yelled as I playfully hit him in the shoulder.

"They demanded it from me." Harry said raising his hands in surrender.

Almost the whole family was there, mom, dad, Percy, George and Bill. It was quite a reception, they even had a welcome home balloon. It was so silly but fun. Especially George's idiotic smile as he pointed to the balloon.

"How about a drink at the leaky?" Dad asked happily as mom and I hugged carefully. Our fight could never be forgotten but we would take the time to re-establish our relationship.

"Sounds good Arthur." Harry said happily. "You could all inform us about what we have missed during our stay in the muggle world."

Dad showed us the way to the small room at the back of the airport where a concealed door appeared that lead us into a small room with a large fire-place.

"Did you know about this?" I asked Harry.

"No."

"How come you didn't tell us about this dad, it would saved us a lot of time."

"Because Harry said he wanted a muggle vacations so I took it that, that included muggle travelling." Dad shrugged as he stepped into the fire place, he was gone before I could glare at him.

"I still can't believe you went without magic for three week!" Ron said as he shook his head.

"It was amazingly relaxing, Ron. You should try it." Harry said as he lead me into the fire place.

The leaky Cauldron was quiet, a few witches had taken the corner table to have a dinner. One of them recognized us and waved friendly at us. Harry was in a good mood and smiled back at her, it made her day.

"Now tell us all about your muggle vacation." Dad said as he sat down at the table.

"Please, not everything!" George yelped. "tell us the things we want to hear, not the things that would haunt us forever."

Everybody chuckled at George dramatic shudders.

"It was amazing dad. Being without magic and being outside the magical world is so relaxing. We were really able to relax and breath. I didn't even miss using magic that much. Only with that safari, muggle tents are way too small but with the magic gone it wasn't that bad."

"Yeah, we are definitely doing that again. Being away from magic made us much more sensitive to it. I think it will be good if we do it yearly. We were able to feel the smallest amount of magical residue." Harry nodded.

"Vacationing without magic? Yearly? You are mental!" Ron said shaking his head.

For over an hour we told them all about the safari we had done and about the wild life we had seen. Harry and Hermione quickly got into a discussion about his idea for my animagus form. George and Bill seemed to be more interested in the lack of magic that we experienced in Kenya. Dad, of course, wanted to know about the muggle resort and the way muggles would camp. It took up all of Harry's patience to explain everything to him, it would have gone on and on but Harry smartly steered away from the conversation with asking about what happened when we were gone.

Percy jump in immediately and with dad, Ron and Bill, informed us about the lack of activity in the magical world. Besides two arrests nothing big had happened while we had been away.

"Arn and Kingsley were joking about how they would send Harry on long trips around the world when they wanted a break." Dad chuckled.

"Have they been lazy while I was away?" Harry asked in mock shock.

"Terribly, Kingsley locked himself up in his office to take a nap, while writing about a hundredth new laws and Arn had his feet on his desk for three weeks and still he manages to have his men and women arrest two Death Eaters."

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise, "Who?"

"Uhm, Jugson, one of the Death Eaters you met in the Department of Mysteries and the sister of Mancair. We didn't knew she was a Death Eater but she had the mark."

"Mancair's sister, hmm, I'm not even sure if I have even seen her or heard of her." Harry mused. "is Arn sure she has been fighting?"

"Yeah, she has been at Hogwarts during the fight, her memories showed that she probably was responsible for killing a fourth year student and very close to the Carrow brother."

The serious talk lasted for an hour or so, until George decided it was time for some fun and started joking around. It was done with a show of his new creations, spells in a bottle, drink one and your skin would color-match your outfit. Hermione was his victim this time.

The whole feel of the table relaxed and we were all laughed loudly and talk about happy things started again.

"I'll get us some more drinks." I whispered to Harry as I got up.

"A Miss Weasley, it's good to see you and Harry back in London again." Tom said with a toothy smile.

"Thanks, Tom. We were in need of a long holiday but it's good to be back."

"What will it be Miss Weasley?" Tom asked happily.

"A round of fire-whiskey, three wines and the rest butterbeer."

Tom turned to his counter while I watched my family, all happy and talking together. I couldn't help but smile at them all, Harry looked up at me just in that moment and winked at me. Somehow everything was settling in it's right place, happy man, happy friends and a happy family. For the first time since the war, I felt complete.


	45. Wedding dress drama

**No excuses for the fact that I am again very late with updating... I have been on a short holiday. **

**This chapter is a bit of an in between chapter together with the next one I will build it up to the start of Harry's and Ginny's professional and adult life together. there will be arguments, dark wizards, love, a proposal, a few weddings, a few quidditch matches, children and a lot of love...**

**I hope you all like this chapter, I'll try to update the next one with in two weeks**

* * *

**45. Wedding dress drama.**

_26__th__ of July 1999_

"Gin?"

"Yes."

"Shall we celebrate our birthday together, it seems so silly to throw two different parties in almost one week."

"I wasn't planning on making it a big production of it all, after your birthday I have a training camp and I will come back shortly before mine. I don't think I have the time or the energy to do a big party after Gwen finished torturing me."

"Me neither. The day after my birthday is my official first day at the auror's office. I will have to get used to working hours and Arn shouting orders."

"Arn would never order you around. He is too much of a friend to do that." I chuckled. "Speaking of friends, Hermione will arrive here soon, I have to get dressed."

I slowly extracted myself from Harry's arms and blankets, it was difficult because Harry wasn't prepared to let me go that easily.

"Don't go yet." Harry murmured.

"I have to Harry. Hermione will be here at eleven, it's ten-thirty already, I need to eat and get dressed."

"Hermione can wait." He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back under the blankets.

"Harry! Please." I giggled. I tried to wiggle back to the edge of the bed but Harry was much too strong. "Harry, I really have to go and get dressed, I can't go dress shopping with Hermione naked."

"Urgh, can't you tell Hermione to go later"

"Harry, we have been laying in bed for twelve hours!"

"Urgh, okay." Harry sighed. He pulled me closer to him and kissed me passionately.

"Cheat." I whispered against his lips. Laughing loudly Harry let me go.

"I have to get ready anyway, Ron will arrive with Hermione, we are going to Grimmauld place and help Kreacher finishing up the place." Harry said as I got up.

"You know, if you finish it up today we can celebrate our birthday there." I commented as I picked up my underwear from the floor and dumped it on the need-to-be-cleaned pile.

"That would be nice but when will we set up the fidelius charm? Before or after?"

"That depends on who we invite." I shrugged as I searched for a skirt and sweater to wear.

"We'll do it before, send out invitations as secret keeper, we didn't want a big party anyway. Just family and friends."

"Okay, but now I really have to get into the shower." I said in a rush as I sprinted into the bathroom. I only had fifteen minutes left before Hermione would come and pick me up for a day of wedding dress shopping. I really wanted to get some sort of food in my stomach before she arrived. Gwen had told me I needed to gain more muscles before the start of the season, so that meant more healthy food for me.

I wasn't complaining about it. Drooble was a master in cooking for a Quidditch player and made perfect dishes, he knew exactly what I needed to eat and how much. Since Gwen's visit, two days before our vacation, I had gained a pound of muscles already. I didn't want to get bulky but Gwen was right, I needed to get stronger to keep up with the professional team.

"I'll go and tell Drooble to get breakfast served." Harry called after me.

After a quick shower I magically dried my hair and braided it. Dressed in a demin skirt and white button down shirt I ran to the kitchen table and slumped down in a chair when Drooble place a large omelet on my plate.

"Eggs are good for you, mistress Ginny. Drooble made you an omelet with cheese and vegetables."

"Thanks Drooble. " I sighed as I looked at my plate. I was used to eating a big breakfast but this was getting crazy. If it wasn't for the fact that it had good results I would have never done it. I did my best to eat it all knowing that I wouldn't be getting any more good food until dinner today.

Today was going to be exciting, Hermione had asked me, mom, and her mother to come wedding dress shopping with her. Later she asked Luna and Angelina along as well. Mom immediately jumped in and planned a women's day out with arranging dinner to finish off the day. Hermione had been using her mother's phone to make two appointments with muggle shops and asked mom for a good witches shop.

"Will you be gone for the whole day?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, mom is taking us out for dinner."

"Okay, than I'll introduce Ron and Neville to ordering in pizza."

"Pizza?" I asked surprised. "They will like that but can you order on a location that doesn't exists?"

"Hey, I'm a wizard right, I'll make sure they can deliver at Grimmauld place."

I chuckled and nodded. I heard the fire place lit and knew Hermione was about to arrive. I sighed and got up.

"Hermione is here, I better get my bag and go."

"No need, mistress Weasley, I have your bag here. Miss Granger is waiting for you at the fire place." Drooble said happily as he handed me my bag.

"Thanks." I said with a smile. "If it doesn't get too late I'll stop by Grimmauld place with Hermione."

"That's okay, love. If I go home before you get there I'll send you a message with the ring."

"Okay." I kissed him a quick goodbye just as Ron walked into the room.

"Oi! Non of that when I'm around!"

"Good morning to you too, Ron." I chuckled as I left the kitchen quickly in search for Hermione.

I found her pacing in front of the fire place.

"Hey, Hermione. Ready?"

"No, but we need to go anyway." She sighed. I thought she looked nervous, tired and sad. I wanted to ask what was wrong but our first appointment was at eleven-thirty so we had to hurry. I smiled at her and indicated that she should go first. We would meet up with mom and Mrs. Granger outside the Leaky Cauldron. Luna and Angelina would meet us at the first store, Ange wanted to do some muggle shopping before that and Luna had kindly agreed to come along.

"Hermione? Is everything alright?" I asked softly as we walked towards the first shop.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" she said while looking away. I got the feeling she was lying to me.

"Because you don't look the happy bride right now. You don't have to lie to me."

"Is it that obvious?" she whispered in a panicked voice.

"A bit, mom wouldn't notice." I said as I nodded towards the two excitingly chatting mothers in front of us. "Did something happen?"

Hermione bit her lip and looked at the women in front of us. She stepped closer to me and looked at me, her eyes showed a lot of pain.

"Ron and I had a fight last night. A really big one." She whispered.

"What?" I gasped, "What happened?"

"I was talking to Ron about the wedding about setting a date, about flowers, decorations and about the dress. I wanted to know what he liked, what he wanted to see me in. He is so not interested in anything wedding related." Hermione said as she angrily shook her head. "Sometimes it's like he doesn't want to get married at all, that he doesn't care about it."

"After an hour of trying to get his attention I got angry with him, yelled at him if he wanted to get married or if I should kick him out before. That got his attention but I was already upset enough. I said that it didn't matter anymore, I would find a dress I like for myself. Then, out of the bleu he asks if I'll be dieting to fit in a gown."

"He didn't!" I gasped. I knew Ron was stupid when it came to girls but this was even too stupid for him.

"He did." Hermione almost cried.

"I knew my brother was stupid but not that stupid. What did you do?"

"I told him that if he thought I was fat he better started to look for a new girl. After that I went to bed, locked the door magically so he couldn't come in. He slept on the couch."

"He didn't look angry or upset this morning." I mused.

"That's it! He never apologized, or said anything about it. I told him I was going to pick you up and he just tagged along. Not even mentioning our fight."

"Don't worry about it, darling, Arthur was just like that before the wedding, they will turn out pretty good." Mom said suddenly, I hadn't even noticed that they were listening to our conversation.

"Yes, Hermione, that's typical men, they are all like that. They just don't understand us, they think different. Besides you look absolutely beautiful and your body is perfect, you'll look stunning in your wedding dress. No need for diets." Her mother said as she hugged Hermione.

"Ron will apologize later today." I told her. "He'll talk to Harry about it, like he always does, Harry will kick his butt for being an insensitive jerk and he'll show up somewhere to apologize."

Hermione tried to smile but we all could see that she was having a hard time with it.

"Listen, if you want to we can cancel the early appointment and go to see Ron so you can talk it out." Mrs. Granger offered.

"No, it's alright. If we want to do a midwinter wedding we need to find a dress soon." Hermione shook her head, "Ginny is probably right, Harry will kick some sense into him."

Hermione being the strong Gryffindor that she is, squared her shoulders and entered the first shop. While we were waiting for Luna and Angelina to arrive and a sales woman to help us, I fumbled with my D.A. bracelet. Harry had explained the spell Hermione had taught him to send messages to only one person. I tried to do it in all secrecy, wandless magic, in the hope to get a message to Harry.

_Ron, needs to apologize._ Appeared on the bracelet, the words I tried to send him. I watched Hermione to see if she got the message but she was looking around her, staring at the dresses. I sighed in relieve and surprise, I did it, my first real conscious wandless magic.

_I know._ Suddenly appeared on the bracelet, it was quickly followed by, _He will, after he gets it._ I chuckled softly as I imagined Harry explaining over and over why, what Ron had said was wrong and incredible hurtful to Hermione.

"Miss Granger?" An sales woman suddenly called our attention. Nervously Hermione got up and turned to the woman.

"That's me." She said with shaking voice.

"Now, there is no need to be nervous. You'll have a great time trying on dresses, darling." The elderly woman said, "I'm Megan."

"Hermione." Hermione said with a careful smiles.

"I was told that would be more people in this group, are you still waiting for someone?"

"Ye…"

"No, we are here." We suddenly heard Angelina call. "I'm sorry Hermione but we got lost."

"It's okay, Ange, hello Luna." Hermione said as she hugged the two. "It seems that the Romanian sun is doing miracles for you, you look great."

Luna did look great, her pale skin was developing a slight tan and her eyes were shining with happiness.

"Yes, it has been a great two months, there is so much to see and to do. I love it there."

"I hope my son is taking good care of you." Mom said as she hugged her two newest daughters.

"Of course, Mrs. Weasley, Charlie is being the perfect gentlemen."

With a small cough the sales woman Megan turned the attention back to her.

"Is the group complete now?" She asked friendly.

"Yes." Hermione nodded. "These are my mother, my future mother in law, my future sister and maid of honor…"

"What?" I yelped.

"Oh, yes, maybe I should have asked before we got here but you are not allowed to say 'no' anyway." Hermione said with a cheeky smile. I squealed and pulled her in a hug.

"and my two other future sisters-in-law, and bridesmaids."

Both Angelina and Luna squealed loudly, Angelina even did a strange dance that made us all laugh. It took a few minutes for the group to calm down and to thank Hermione but finally we managed to listen to Megan and follow her to a more private area.

"Do you have any idea of how you want to look on your wedding day?" Megan asked Hermione as we sat down.

"Oh, a bit. I have been looking in brochures and all but I don't know what will look good on me."

"Tell me what you liked when you looked through the brochures. Was the dress big, or flowing, elegant and small, mermaid style, A-line, with or without corset, lace, beading, I need to know as much as possible."

I looked at Hermione, I was proud of her that she didn't look overwhelmed, I know I would be. I never knew that there were so many things a wedding dress could contain. Even worse I had no idea what the woman meant. Hermione didn't look confused but still a bit nervous.

"I want the white dress but with a bit of color in it. Not too Cinderella like and not a trumpet. I like a bit of beading and lace but it has to be elegant. Creative and magical."

"Do you have a date set and a theme?" Megan asked her.

"We don't have an exact date but it will be a midwinter wedding. There will be dark red flower arrangements and ice-sculptures."

"Okay, so we need something that fits in a midwinter celebration, elegant, with a bit of decoration and maybe something dark red in it."

"Something like that." Hermione nodded.

"Okay, I'll be right back with an selection."

Megan left the room and Hermione started to fidget nervously with the hem of her skirt. I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Are you alright, darling." Her mother asked.

"Yes. Yes I'm alright. Just nervous."

"I understand, I was so nervous for my first appointment, the idea of seeing myself in a wedding dress." Jean Granger shuddered.

"Why?" Angelina asked.

"First, I wasn't completely sure I wanted to get married. I loved John dearly but I never imagined myself as a wife, keeping house, taking care of kids and all, I wanted a career but he asked and I said yes but when it came to the dress I was absolutely horrified. I think the sales woman saw it and immediately decided to make it as painless as possible and went for the smaller more simple versions of a dress and skipped the big, poofy ones. Secondly, I had broken my leg half a year before that and gained a lot of weight, I was sure I looked like a sausage in it. The worst thing was that my future sister-in-law insisted on coming along, she thought she knew fashion and nagged so badly about everything that wasn't her taste, I really wasn't looking forward to go with her but all in all, I found the perfect dress and was really happy to wear it."

"I'm sure we will find the perfect dress for you Hermione." Mom said.

"George said that you and Ron had a fight last night. I wasn't even sure if you wanted to go today." Angelina whispered.

"How did George know that?" Hermione yelped.

"He stopped by at your house yesterday to ask Ron for help this weekend, he heard you scream, he was worried so he checked the window and saw the two of you arguing." Angelina admitted shyly.

"oh." Hermione sighed. "Yeah, well, we fight a lot, making up is always good, though…"

I thought it was very brave of her to make it into a joke but I think everybody present could see the real hurt in her eyes. I just prayed that this day would make her forget her worries and show her that Ron had been really stupid.

"Okay, okay, I found a few things to try on." Megan said as she announced herself loudly. "Miss Granger will you come with me to the dressing room, your family and friends can wait here."

"Can Ginny come along, please?" Hermione asked suddenly incredible pale. Megan saw it and nodded. I got up and followed them out, grabbing Hermione's hand in the same move, just to let her know that I was there to support her. Megan took us to the dressing area of the shop. They had a rather large room to change in.

"I have placed my selection there, if you can't find anything you like I'll take you through the shop so you can pick a few of your own."

"Okay." Hermione squeaked.

"Oh, look Hermione, these look fantastic." I said brightly. I hadn't even really looked at the dressed but I tried to find a way to pull Hermione out of her depressed mood. When I really looked at the dresses I decided that the sales woman was good, she had picked up dresses Drooble would have selected for Hermione as well.

"Which one would you like to try on first?"

Hermione swallowed loudly and turned to look at the dresses, her eyes widened a bit and she did smile carefully. She took her time to really look at the dresses.

"That one." Hermione decided. She pointed at the dress that I really liked. It was sleek and beautifully decorated on the top half, there was a bit of red in the decorations. There wasn't a corset in it but it was well shaped and would hug her curves beautifully.

Megan and I helped her into the dress, she looked absolutely smashing.

"Wow, Hermione, you look so beautiful." I breathed. For the first time that day a honest smile colored her face.

"Thanks Ginny." She whispered as she turned to look at herself in the mirror. I watched her eyes widen and the smile grow bigger. She turned around a few times and checked herself from every angle.

"What do you think, shall we show this one to the others?" Megan asked after a few minutes.

"Yes."

Megan lead us back to the seating area where mom, Mrs. Granger, Luna and Angelina were waiting to see Hermione in a wedding dress for the first time. I have to admit it was quite the sight, I was sure mom was going to freak.

I hadn't counted on Mrs. Granger, thought.

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Granger yelped when she saw Hermione. "Oh my! Hermione! Darling, you look stunning!

I think the whole shop heard her squeals. Surprisingly mom was very quiet, maybe it was because she lost her ability to speak. She was just staring at Hermione, her mouth half open and her eyes wide.

"Hermione, you look amazing." Angelina said in awe. Luna frantically nodded her agreement.

Megan steered Hermione to a large mirror so that she could see herself in better lighting.

Hermione was very quiet, she was just looking at herself like she was looking at a piece of homework that she needed to review before handing in. The smile I saw earlier was completely gone.

"What do you think, darling?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Dunno… I…"

Hermione turned and turned in front of that mirror, I watched her eyes narrowing. I wondered what as going through her as she started to look upset, I think Megan noticed it too because she stepped in.

"Do you feel like this could be your wedding dress?" She asked Hermione.

"Maybe, I honestly don't know." Hermione whispered.

"If you don't feel like it's your dress the moment you see yourself in it, it isn't the dress for you. Shall we try on something else?"

Hermione nodded and I followed them back to the dressing rooms. I wondered if Hermione was in the right mood to find her wedding dress at all. I didn't want to say anything about it because she had only tried on one dress and we had many more to go but I hoped she would start to smile again soon.

The appointment lasted for more than an hour, Hermione tried on so many dresses that I had already forgotten what the first one looked like. Megan wasn't the one to give up that easily but we had an appointment in the next shop and couldn't be late. After my mom made some well placed excuses we left the shop with a very depressed Hermione.

"Maybe, there isn't a dress that fits me properly." She murmured as we walked towards the next shop.

"Hermione that is bullshit, you looked good in every one of those dresses, they all fitted you perfectly. You just need to make up your mind on what you want."

"That's the problem I don't know what I want and I don't want Ron to think the dress is ugly."

"Ron will like anything you pick. I'm sure my brother would prefer you walking down the aisle naked anyway."

"Ginny!" three woman yelled. Angelina just giggled and I was sure Luna hadn't even heard my comment as she was daydreaming again.

"What? It is the truth. Ron doesn't care about dresses, all he will care about is the wedding night and the honeymoon."

"That's enough Ginny." My mom snapped. "Hermione, darling, Ron will love whatever you are wearing at the wedding, it will be the best day in your life."

I glared at my mom for telling me off and slowed my step down to join Angelina and Luna. I wasn't going to ruin Hermione's day by arguing with my mother.

"What's up with Hermione?" Angelina asked in a soft whisper.

"Yeah, she is so sad. She doesn't look the happy bride at all?" Luna commented, she always paid attention at the right moments.

I sighed and walked closer to them.

"The fight they had was really bad and they haven't talked about it since."

"Really?" Angelina asked. "What did they fight about that was so bad?"

"Well, Ron was being stupid, not giving any input into the wedding preparations and go asking in the middle of the argument if she was going on a diet before the wedding to fit in the dress."

"He didn't?" Angelina gasped.

"Yes, he did. I don't think he meant Hermione was fat but even Fleur was dieting before the wedding, just to look even more beautiful, not that it was possible but she kept on going on about eating less and fitting into her dress. I think that's where Ron got the idea from but Hermione took it a bit different."

"She knows she looks stunning in every dress right?" Angelina asked.

"I don't think she feels very pretty and stunning at the moment. Thanks to that stupid git."

I really hoped it would go better in the next store, I love shopping, especially for other people but with Hermione in a very depressed mood it was going to be a long day.

I hoped the sales person in the next shop would be able to help Hermione out of her depression but after an hour in a small shop trying on every wedding dress they had Hermione was still rejecting everything. I didn't see her smile once.

"Can we have a moment alone?" I asked the saleswoman.

Our tactics weren't working, we all tried to tell Hermione she looked beautiful, every dress we praised, only when we really didn't like it we said so but Hermione still looked lost. I decided it was time to take some proper action.

"Yes but you can't take pictures of the dresses." The saleswoman said and left the dressing room. As she closed the door I magically looked the door and turned to Hermione.

"Hermione?" I asked carefully. She was sitting down on one of the chairs with her face in her hand, her shoulders were shaking. "What is it?"

"Maybe… Maybe I am too fat." She sobbed. "Nothing looks good on me. Everything makes me look awful."

"Hermione!" I yelped. "Are you nuts. You look stunning in every one of them. At least you have some sort of womanly curves to flaunt and those curves are beautiful and make you only look more stunning in those dresses."

"Maybe, Ron was right, I should go on a diet." She whispered, she was clearly not listening to me and I couldn't help but get angry. Not with her but with my brother and his stupid big mouth.

"Hermione wait here, do not move and do not unlock the door." I hissed at her.

"What are you going to do?"

"Kick some sense into Ron. I'll be back in just a second."

"No, Gin…"

I didn't hear her finish her words, I apparated onto the doorsteps of Grimmauld place and stormed in.

"Ron!" I screamed as I slammed the door shut behind me.

"Mistress Ginny. Welcome back." Kreacher said as he appeared in front of me.

"Hello Kreacher, where is that stupid git that calls himself my brother?"

"Master Weasley is upstairs painting the guestroom."

"Thanks."

I rushed up the stairs and raced towards the wing that Harry and I had decided to be made into the guest wing.

"Ron!" I yelled again. "Get your stupid ass over here!"

"Gin? What's going on?" Harry suddenly appeared on the landing.

"That stupid brother of mine with his big mouth has ruined Hermione's confidence and therefore her fun in dress shopping. So he is now coming with me to explain to Hermione that she is the most stunning woman in de world and doesn't need to loose any weight to look absolutely beautiful!" I yelled.

"I never said anything negative about her!" Ron yelped as he appeared behind Harry. He looked pale and was using Harry as a shield.

"You asked her if she would go on a diet! Ron! That about as worse as telling her she is fat!" I screamed.

"Ginny, please. Calm down, I don't want to replace the windows again." Harry said, half joking.

"I will. I will! When he comes with me and talk to Hermione!"

"Is that all?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes, that's all. That git needs to tell his fiancé that she is stunning and beautiful, he needs to apologize a thousand times." I turned around and walked towards the stairs. "Come on Ron, or you'll be in for much worse than just apologizing."

I heard him swallow loudly and following me down the stairs.

"Gin, be nice!" Harry called after me. I grinned at him, my brother wasn't going to make this mistake again that easily, that I was going to make sure.

When I reached the door I threw it open, stepped onto the stairs and turned around to face Ron.

"What are you waiting for, get here." I growled. I watching him swallow again before stepping closer to me. "Grab my hand." I barked.

Within seconds I was back in Hermione's dressing room, Ron appearing next to me. Hermione was still sitting on her chair, her shoulder still shaking.

"Moine?" Ron whispered. I stepped aside to let him get closer to her.

"Ron!" she yelped. "You're not supposed to be here."

"Tell that to Ginny, she dragged me along. What is wrong? Why are you crying? You are supposed to have fun?"

I carefully, silently unlocked the door and sneaked out of the dressing room. The sales woman was waiting outside for us.

"Give her a few minutes, please. It has been an emotional day for her." I whispered.

"Okay, but we need to finish this appointment soon, I have other customers waiting for me. I'm sorry but I don't think I have what she is looking for, maybe she should go to a less conservative dress shop."

"Thank you. We do have an other appointment for today as well. She'll be out in a few minutes." I promised the saleswoman and walked towards the family. The four woman were all looking around and chatting about the dresses.

"Hey." I said as I joined them at a rack of very poufy dresses.

"Ginny. Where is Hermione?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Working on a problem." I smirked.

"What problem?" Luna asked.

"On the fact that she hasn't smiled today. When she returns she will be smiling and we will go to the next shop."

"Ginny, what have you done?" Mom asked sternly.

"Ain't gonna tell." I said secretively. I laughed as the four women started to look annoyed. "listen, I found a way to solve a problem, so let me deal with it and enjoy finding Hermione a very good wedding dress."

I watched as three of the four nod carefully at me, Mrs. Granger glanced towards the dressing rooms but didn't say or ask anything, Angelina and Luna trusted me and returned their attention to the dresses but my mom… always my mom… she opened her mouth to argue. I glared at her, in a warning but she just didn't get it.

"Ginny, what have you done?" She asked in that annoying hissing voice.

"It's nothing special, don't worry about it, Hermione will be out happily smiling in a few minutes." I hissed back.

"Of course I worry about her, she will be my daughter soon!" Mom haughtily stated. It made my blood boil, ever since our fight I loathed that supreme smug look on her face. She really thought she knew everything, some how it had gotten into her that she and only she knew what was best for everybody. Lucky for her before I could reply Hermione stepped out of the dressing room.

"Ginny, Molly!" she called. To my great relieve she looked a lot happier and her smile snapped my mom out of her worried angry state. I smiled at Hermione and winked, she looked like herself again and properly flushed, even her hair was a bit wild. To us younger women it wasn't a mystery what she had been doing to regain her happiness, I was surprised my brother managed that in such a short time. "shall we go to the next shop, we might be late already." Hermione continued as she winked at me.

Mom huffed but nodded, I didn't miss the glare she shot at me but I decided not to react. Hermione was happy and ready to do some real shopping that was all I wanted.

We made our way back to the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. The shop was located just behind Gringotts, which reminded me that I needed to make an appointment to go through my assets with a goblin soon. I had yet to let myself inform about the arrangements Harry had made for me and with me starting my job next week I needed to get it done soon. Maybe if we stayed at Grimmauld place tonight I could go easily tomorrow.

"Welcome, welcome!" the sales witch said happily as we entered the shop. "I am so honored to have you in my shop Miss Granger. I had been hoping you would visit us ever since the word of your engagement got out."

Angelina and I shared a look, Hermione had told us she was afraid of these reactions in the magical world and very afraid that details of her wedding would leak to the press. They would stop at nothing to get images from the wedding and the details of her dress. With both Ron and Hermione being a part of the Golden trio they had become as famous as Merlin over the last year.

I was impressed that Hermione didn't flinch. Instead she glared at the woman, quite harshly.

"Yes, thank you. I hope you understand that you can't tell anyone about my visit or details until after the wedding."

The woman looked scandalized.

"Of course not, our customers privacy is most important."

"Of course." Hermione said with a business like smile. "But, you know as well as I do that a lot of money has been offered for information by the press and people are easily corrupted. Therefore I ask you and your personnel to sign this contract of secrecy before we start."

The woman looked like she was about to argue but a large, well dressed man stepped out from behind the racks.

"Miss Granger, of course we understand your issues with the secrecy. It must be hard having press sneaking around trying to get details of your most important day."

Hermione just nodded and handed the piece of parchment to the man. It wasn't even her idea but Kingsley had advised Hermione to do it. If the date of the wedding found it's way into the wizarding community early it could give the last few Death Eaters and Greyback time to prepare an attack. Not to mention the attack of reporters and photographers they would need to deal with.

The man signed the official ministry form and handed it to his employees and ordered them all to sign the parchment. Hermione visibly relaxed and her smile returned. I now realized that her argument to go to a muggle store were correct, in the muggle world she wouldn't have to worry about secrecy and dangers at all. Here, where she belonged, was where the danger still lurked. Just as she had worried about.

"Now, Miss Granger, ready to go dress shopping?" The man asked.

"Yes, Mister…?"

"Oh sorry, my name is Jorge Espan. I'm Spanish from origin, this is my shop and this charming young lady is my daughter, Missy, she runs the shop when I'm away."

"Nice to meet you both, this is my mother, my maid of honor, bridesmaids and future mother in law."

Hermione quickly introduced us, mentioning of names and all was unnecessary, I was sure that besides Hermione's mom the store owner knew who we were. Even Luna was well recognized these days as a member of the army that stood up for the innocent.

"Welcome to you all. We are going to give you a bit of time to look around to see if you can find a dress on your own, after that, if it is needed, we will also select a few dresses for you but I am sure that you can select dresses for yourself."

Talk about being thrown into the deep! There were thousands of dresses, many different styles and colors. Even I was overwhelmed and it wasn't even my wedding. When Hermione nodded to Jorge, he and his employees left the room to give us some privacy.

"Please help me." Hermione whispered.

"of course. What do you want us to do?" I asked.

"Help me find something that fits the theme and the colors. Something that fits me, I don't care about style at the moment." Hermione said carefully.

I have to admit finding a wedding dress was hard, especially if it wasn't for yourself. The shop had amazing dresses, I saw a few I was sure I wanted to try on when the day arrived that I had to find one but to find the perfect one for Hermione, that was difficult. I should have asked Drooble to come along for this part of the shopping.

Luna was surprisingly good in finding what Hermione liked, somehow she had an eye for strange and beautiful things. After just ten minutes she had picked out three dresses and Hermione loved them all.

Mom had found a dress as well, Hermione excepted it with graze but we all knew that it was way to conservative for Hermione. It was completely white with long sleeves and a high collar, high cut and a lot of old fashioned lace. Her own mother had better taste and knew what her daughter liked, she completely agreed with Luna's selection.

Ange and I were empty handed.

"Which one should I try on first?" Hermione asked after a good ten minutes of searching for more dresses. It was very clear that the winner was already selected and in Luna's hands, we couldn't find anything better.

"Try mine first." My mom pressed herself forward.

Mom's dress wasn't a success, Hermione looked ridiculous in it. It made her look pale and a bit mouse, it covered her up completely. Even Jorge disapproved of the dress completely.

"If pictures do rest the press I want to be sure that you look as beautiful as possible, it won't be good for my shop if you look bad."

"Hermione try this one on." Luna said dreamy. She held up a white dress with a corset that was bound with red laces and decorated with beautiful lace and tulle. It was low cute in the front and the used material flowed like water.

"I think that's a good choice, Hermione." I whispered to her as she looked at the dress.

"I'll try it." She nodded.

When she stepped out of the dressing room she looked absolutely beautiful. The shop assistant magically altered the dress so that it fitted her perfectly. Jorge place a veil over her face and pulled her hair back a bit.

It was absolutely silent in the shop as Hermione stepped in front of the mirror. I knew without a doubt that we wouldn't find a better dress for her, it was absolutely perfect. With the veil and the hairpiece that belonged with it in her dark brown curls she looked every bit like the magical princes she was.

"Wow." Hermione breathed and all women present sighed. "Wow. I look… …"

"Perfect." Mrs. Granger finished.

Not surprising after a hard day of negative emotions Hermione started to cry and hugged her mom tightly. After a few minutes she calmed down and turned back to the mirror.

"What do you think, Ginny?"

"I think…" I sighed. "That we won't find a better dress for you, ever."

"Girls?"

"Hermione you look so beautiful, Ron is going to die when he sees you." Angelina said.

"Beautiful." Luna nodded.

Hermione turned back to the mirror and looked at herself for a long time.

"Mrs. Weasley, what do you think, you are very quiet?" Luna asked mom.

"Oh well…" Mom shrugged.

I could see on her face that she didn't like the dress. I wondered if she would say something now Hermione had already showed that she really loved the dress.

"Oh, well, it is a beautiful dress." Mom said.

"But?" Hermione asked as she heard mom's hesitation as well.

"Maybe you should cover the front a bit more. The back is so bare. I'd think it might be a bit too showy. Maybe they can alter the dress a bit."

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley!" Jorge yelped in surprise. "The alternative new cut of this dress is what makes the dress so special. You can't change it, it would make the dress ugly."

"I really like the dress this way. The only thing I worry about is if it will be warm enough." Hermione said shyly.

"The tent will have heating spells." I pointed out.

"I know but it will be midwinter, it can be so cold and even with heating spells it might not be really warm enough. Not to mention that this dress shows a lot of skin, maybe that doesn't match the midwinter theme."

"You have a midwinter theme?" Jorge asked.

"Yes. Like the yulebal at Hogwarts with the tri-wizard tournament. Ice decorations and a lot of snow. Table pieces with dark red flowers."

Jorge nodded and looked intensely at the dress, wrinkles formed in his forehead.

"I can make the sleeves longer, make them a bit more elegant and have them decorated. If you take this dress I can alter that for you, I think that you will find it much better fitting with the theme and it won't destroy the look of the dress." He said after a while.

"I don't know. What if I don't like it?" Hermione asked.

"I'll show you what it will look like. Glamour charms cost nothing." The man smiled. He took his wand and performed a complicated series of wand movements. After a few minutes he asked Hermione to look in the mirror again. The glamour charm would show itself in the mirror.

"Oh!" Hermione gasped and started to shake again. I walked to her and looked at what she was seeing in the mirror.

"Wow, Hermione. That looks awesome." I breathed.

"I want this dress." Hermione whispered. "exactly as it looks in the mirror."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Definitely."

Mom wasn't happy about it. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to being told 'no' but it was Hermione's wedding and she looked smashing. Hermione and Jorge started to discus the things that needed changed and the price.

"Where should I deliver the dress when it is ready?" Jorge asked when Hermione signed the deal.

"Oh. I don't know."

"We will have someone pick it up." I said.

"Gin?" Hermione asked.

"If Jorge send a letter to you when the dress is ready, than you tell me, I have Drooble pick it up here, he is going to help you get dressed and do your hair and all anyway."

"Are you sure?" Mom asked.

"Yes, Drooble loves to help and he has already asked me if it was okay that he would help Hermione with her hair and dress on her wedding. I told him he should ask Hermione but that it was okay with me."

"Okay. Send me a letter when everything is done and than Drooble shall pick it up." Hermione said.

"And Drooble is?" Jorge asked.

"My house-elf." I said.

"Of course." Jorge nodded. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Actually there is?" Hermione said to our surprise. "You see these are my bridesmaids and maid of honor, I want them dressed in the same style as me."

"What?" Angelina, Luna and I yelped.

"Yes, that's why I took you all with me today! I would have gone shopping with Molly and mom alone if Fleur hadn't pointed out that it was easier to order all the dresses at once. They would match better and all. Your dresses need to be ordered today as well and I really want them to match."

"But, Hermione, darling, we have a reservation at the restaurant, we don't have much time left to get there." My mom pointed out.

"I know but this won't take long. I know exactly what the dresses will have to look like." Hermione smiled and turned to Jorge. I swear the man had Galleons in his eyes at that point. "can it be quick?"

"Of course. I'll take measures and you tell me what you want."

Angeline, Luna and I were ordered to stand in line so our measures could be taken while Hermione talked to Jorge. It was very clear that she loved dress shopping as long as she wasn't the one to wear it.

"All three dresses have to be the same fabric as mine. Less decorated but with the long sleeves. Ginny, my maid of honor, shall wear a champagne colored dress with dark red and white decorations, same style as mine. Dark red shoes. Her dress has to have the same low cut in the front and the back."

Jorge just nodded as his quill raced over the parchment. Hermione sounded like her own bossy self again as she moved on to the other two girls.

"My bridesmaids shall wear a dress that is cut higher. More conservative. Completely dark red, with champagne colored decorations. No lace, just beading and tulle on the bodice. Oh, all dresses need to be floor length. Champagne colored shoes, pumps for all three."

"Jewelry?" Jorge asked.

"No, I have that one already covered." Hermione said.

All three of us looked at her but she just raised her eyebrows in a challenge, we weren't allowed to ask, complain or tell her that she was crazy.

It took Jorge an other fifteen minutes to show Hermione how we all would look in the dresses and an other five to get Hermione's issues with them fixed. In the end we left the shop just in time to run to the restaurant.

Dinner would have been fun if my mom hadn't been complaining about all the dresses. She though they were too flashy, showing too much skin and too expensive. It wasn't until Hermione told her very clearly to stop complaining or she would buy her dress as well that mom shut her mouth. She was clearly afraid of being dressed by Hermione.

Luna told us about her relationship with Charlie and how happy she was. She had also good news from her father, he would come to England for the wedding. It was good to hear that he felt much better but it meant that for the rest of his life he would have to live in a sunny warm country.

Angelina told us that she had finally agreed with George and started working in the shop part-time and spend the rest of her time training. She also told me that she had a trainings contract with the national Quidditch association. They scouted for talents that teams didn't pick up and trained them so they could try-out the next season with more skills and knowledge. I was happy that she had taken the advise Gwen had given her when she visited the Summer house.

Although it had been a long day, it wasn't very late when we left the restaurant.

"Your father is picking my up at the Leaky Cauldron in a few minutes." Mrs. Granger told Hermione when she asked her mom how she was getting home.

"Oh, shall I wait with you? I can apparate home when you leave." Hermione said.

"Hermione, the boys are still at Grimmauld place. Harry promised me to let me know when he went home and I still have no message. Do you want to come to Grimmauld place with me?"

"Okay but let's wait for my dad to pick up my mom, I don't want her to have to wait alone."

"Can we come as well?" Angelina asked.

"Is George there?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, he said he wanted to help out Harry after he closed the shop."

"Than Charlie will be there as well." Luna said happily.

"Girls, why don't you four go to Grimmauld place, I'll wait with Mrs. Granger." Mom offered.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked both elder women.

"Yes, darling. I'll wait for your dad with Molly, you go to Ron and tell him never to upset you like that again or I will tell your father."

"Okay, I'll come to visit you two next weekend." Hermione promised. We all said goodbye and were about to dis-apparate when my mom called me back.

"Ginny! Before I forget, about your birthday and Harry's birthday. I thought we could do a party at the Burrow for Harry on his actual birthday and yours as well. I can send invitations and do…"

"MOM! Stop!" I interrupted her.

"What, it will be nice."

"Mom!" I almost whined. "Harry starts his job as an auror the day after his birthday and I will go on a trainingscamp until two days before mine. We both don't want a big party."

"We can do something small. Just a garden party." Mom said quickly.

"No, mom. Harry and I will celebrate our birthday together after I get back from camp. At Grimmauld place. We will send invitations."

"But…"

"Bye mom, Mrs. Granger."

I waved goodbye and quickly apparated to Grimmauld place.


	46. Friends

**This is the second part of the chapter I initially wrote together with the wedding dress shopping, but it just got too long...**

**I have been reading my own story ago to make sure that i don't make any mistakes in the plots I have created...**

**Warning: This chapter contains lemons, just for lemony sake! I couldn't help but write it...it's all meant to show the trust and dynamics between Harry and Ginny...**

**enjoy and please review!**

* * *

**46. Friends.**

"Welcome back, Miss Ginny." Kreacher greeted me as I walked into the newly decorated hallway of Grimmauld place.

"Hello Kreacher, I brought guests." I said as I stepped aside to let the girls in.

"Oh, yes! Good evening." Kreacher was happy taking our bags.

"Kreacher, where are the boys?"

"In the drawing room, miss Ginny."

I nodded and mentioned the girls to follow.

"I see they got Mrs. Black finally off the wall." Hermione said approvingly.

"Yes, Harry asked Arn to have a look at it but it needed a curse breaker, so we asked Bill, he has been working on it for two days before he broke through every curse and spell it had on it."

"And I see you finally got at least one house-elf to address to you as you want it." She chuckled.

"Yes, Kreacher finally got it. Drooble likes having a woman back in the house too much, he thinks a lady should be addressed to properly." I quoted him.

A lot of laughter and noise came from the drawing room. It sounded like a party was going on.

"Hey, the girls are here!" George called in a loud laughter as we walked in.

"Yes, time to hand over the fire-whiskey." Angelina said as she saw the empty bottle laying on the table and George holding up a second bottle.

"Did you guys started the party without us?" I pouted as I settled myself in Harry's lap.

"You can't tell me you haven't had a party all day." Harry said innocently.

"Actually it wasn't really that much fun." Luna said dreamingly as she took the bottle from George and took a sip. "don't get me wrong Charlie, I love your mother but she can be a bit controlling and doesn't handle the word 'no' very well."

"Did you two had a fight again?" Harry immediately asked me.

"What! No! not really."

"Gin?"

"No, mom and I didn't fight. We wouldn't do that to Hermione. Ron got her upset enough already. It's just not the same between us anymore and mom can't get used to it. She was already planning two extreme birthday parties for us but the 'no' Luna meant was Hermione telling 'no' to a dress she selected."

"Well, it looked horrendous. If I would wear that one I would have looked like I was from the thirties. It was terrible old fashioned and covering up every bit of skin I had." Hermione complained as she took the bottle from Luna.

"Besides that she got upset when Ginny ordered a bottle of wine for us at the restaurant." Angelina put in as the bottle was passed to her.

"See, Harry, I didn't have a fight with mom." I said innocently and took the now almost empty bottle from Ange. I took a sip and enjoyed the fuzzy warmth the liquor brought. Kreacher appeared right on time with snacks and a new bottle.

"Did you find a good dress?" Neville asked.

"Yes, I did. Thanks to Luna. I don't know Charlie but you might want to ask her soon, that girl has a lot of knowledge of wedding dresses for someone who isn't even engaged yet." Hermione said casually but she got the whole group howling with laughter at Charlie's shocked face.

"That's not nice, miss Granger." Charlie growled.

"I thought it was actually very funny." She chuckled. "Anyway, Luna really did get me some good dresses, the one I selected was her first choice for me."

"How was ordering pizza, guys?" I asked as I noticed the empty boxes on the table.

"Awesome!" George yelled. "Ange, did you know that muggles could call with a tel… tele… tely.. damn! Hermione what's it called?"

"A telephone."

"Yes, that!" George laughed. "You just talk in it and half an hour later some muggle on a motorized bike brings you food."

"Did you like the food?" Angelina asked as if George was a little kid. I guess he was, he was quite drunk and that made him even more silly.

"Yes, it was weird food but Hermione or Harry has to tell us how to make it. I'm sure you would like it as well. It was a smashed warm bread or something with molten cheese on it and tomato. Harry had one with meat on it as well."

Harry and Hermione were laughing loudly at George's description. It was funny to see him so excited about food, that was normally Ron's department.

"Did you get done much?" I asked Harry when the laughter died down.

"We did. The guest wing is done, our suite is done, we finished this room just about an hour ago. We only need to do the upper floor bedroom but they are almost ready."

"So it will be done in time to give a birthday party here?"

"Yes." Harry smiled as he poured some of the fire-whiskey in his glass and shared it with me.

"For who will we be dress shopping next?" Luna mused after we had been sharing the bottle of fire-whiskey for in silence for a while. All couples had been enjoying a caring moment of soft kisses.

"You!" all of us yelled and laughed. It was funny to see that Charlie turned bright red again but Luna was just smiling at him. Her eyes were dancing with fun.

"No Ginny, I don't think so… You and Harry are much longer together." She said dreamy.

"George and Ange are the oldest together."

"Nope that are Percy and Audrey." George immediately shot back.

"But Audrey won't ask us to go dress shopping." Ange whined.

"Do you guys have a date set already?" Neville interrupted. I was sure the dress talking made the boy feel a bit uncomfortable.

While Ron and Hermione tried to answer Neville and with that got into an argument about the date, the fire-whiskey flowed freely. I had never been drunk but I started to feel slightly fuzzy as I drank an other glass of fire-whiskey.

I took some time to look around, all of them looked slightly tipsy. Hermione even started to giggle uncontrollably. That was my cue to stop drinking the heavy stuff, I really wanted to get my stuff at Gringotts sorted in the morning, next week I would be heading for my official start as a professional Quidditch player, I needed my stuff sorted out before that.

"Ginny!" Somebody yelled. I looked up to see Angelina smile at me.

"Yes, Ange?"

"Finally, I was talking to you."

"Sorry, I was lost in thoughts."

"Okay, I asked you when the official team presentation of the Harpies is?"

"Oh, it's Friday. Monday I'm leaving for a 7 day training camp."

"What happens during a official team presentation?" Hermione asked a bit slurry.

"The most horrible of obligations…" I groaned. "First we are presented to the press, have our pictures taken at least a dozen times, than we do private interviews with the reporters that have been selected, after that there is a team press conference and last we are presented to the supporters, signing autographs and every thing."

Everybody seemed to understand why it would be a horrible day. As survivors of the battle for Hogwarts they had all had to deal with reporters and published articles. Reporters were still trailing every move we did. Especially now that Ron and Hermione were engaged and Harry hadn't yet asked me, they were gossiping about that Harry wasn't willing to commit to me. I knew of course that it wasn't the fact but the constant questions were annoying and the girls who now thought they had a chance were starting to get on my nerves, not to mention that I knew I would be faced with those questions at the presentation.

"I'm sure Gwen will keep an eye on you and chase any reporter away when needed." Angelina said positively.

"Yeah, probably." I sighed.

"Hermione, I haven't heard yet but did you agree to work at the ministry?" Charlie suddenly asked.

"No, I haven't." Hermione sighed.

"What? Why not?" Neville asked surprised.

"I don't know, I'm not sure anymore if the ministry is for me. The memories there and of what they did… I know it's a good chance to make a difference but still, I'm not sure if it's for me."

"What job did Kingsley actually offered?" Charlie asked.

"He offered me a place in the department of Regulation and Control of magical creatures. He wants me to work on a complete new set of laws and procedures to make life for all magical creatures better."

"And you said 'no' to that?" George yelped in surprise. "Where is the Hermione that I know! Where is the girl that was knitting very bad hats for elves so they could be free?"

"I didn't say, 'no' to it, I just asked Kingsley if I could think about it."

"You should do it, Hermione. Really, I think you will like that department. I have worked with them many times, most people there are really nice but they need proper guidance, I think you could do it." Charlie said seriously.

"Do you really think so?" Hermione asked a bit shy.

"Yeah, ask Kingsley to show you around there, introduce you to that team. You'll see for yourself."

I looked at the old grandfather clock, it told me that it was already very late. "Harry, we should go home soon, I really want to get to Gringotts in the morning and get everything in order before Friday."

"We can stay here, Kreacher has already made the bed. Lets drink one more."

"I'll be drinking Butterbeer than."

Kreacher immediately raced in and offered me a cooled Butterbeer while the others continued with the fire-whiskey. After two more rounds of fire-whiskey everybody was thoroughly drunk, even the ever responsible Hermione was a singing along with the radio. It was an old muggle radio with muggle songs only Harry and Hermione knew.

"urgh." Neville said as he got up. "I can't apparate home like this."

"No, that would be very dangerous." Ron slurred.

"You can use the floo or stay here." Harry suggested sleepily. "Everybody is welcome to stay, there are enough rooms ready."

"Ange and I will walk home, it isn't far from here to the Leaky Cauldron." George said as he got up. Angelina looked surprised but followed him to the door.

"George, Ange, we will have our birthday party here, we celebrate it together after Gin returns from the camp, I'll let you know when." Harry called after them.

"Okay, goodnight!"

"I'll take the floo home. I need to get up early tomorrow, I have to look at an apartment in Hogsmeade." Neville said.

"oh, did you found something?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe, if it's suitable. It's across from the three broomsticks, so I can walk to Hogwarts everyday instead of staying there. I think I'll like the freedom of living outside the castle for now."

"Let us know if you take it." Harry called after him.

"I will, I will need help decorating than anyway!" Neville called when he stepped up to the fire place. We waved goodbye and watched the flames turn orange again.

"Luna, Charlie, you two can stay here if you want too." Harry said when he got up.

"Thank you, Harry. I'm in no shape to apparate." Luna smiled.

We all said a quick goodnight and went to our bedroom. I hadn't seen what Harry and Kreacher had done to it yet. I had given my opinion of what I thought it would look like but Harry told me he would make it something special. Which actually meant that I would have no say in it what so ever.

"Ready to see what we have done to it?" Harry asked as he started to open the door.

"Yes. Show me."

Harry smiled and opened the door for me. As I stepped in I was in complete awe, they sure had made something special out of it. I saw sure if I could describe it but it looked a lot like what I imagined a Hogwarts teacher's room would look like. A large four-poster bed with dark red drapes and curtains stood at the opposite wall, a large wardrobe to the left and to the right were a few chairs and a table. The walls had a soft grey color and a few portraits gave it color.

"What do you think?" Harry asked. Apparently I had been silent for too long.

"It's beautiful." I breathed. "Did you pick this out all by yourself?"

"Yes. Of course."

"Hmmm, I'm thinking the Potter's and your mom had good taste in their genes."

"Thanks, I hoped you liked it." Harry said softly behind me. His lips brushed my ear and the soft skin below them. It made me shiver. "I was thinking we should try out the bed first." Harry whispered suggestively.

"Hmm, I was thinking the same thing."

I turned around so that I could kiss him properly. As always his lips and tongue drove me to insanity. I don't know why but it still felt like that first time, the butterflies were still there, the tightening in the pit of my stomach only came faster and my need to be close to him grew with the day.

"Harry!" I hissed as he sucked my weak spot at the base of neck.

"Yes, love." He whispered, his breath that ran softly over my skin made me shiver again.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too, very much."

His hands slowly worked the button of my shirt and skirt, soon I was standing in my underwear.

"Have I told you lately how beautiful you are." He whispered as he kissed my chest, "I think these abs you are creating are so sexy." He kissed lower and lower. Slowly he sank to his knees and kissed my bellybutton. "Your skin is so soft. I really love every freckle on it."

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his lips against my skin. With every whispered word his lips moved lower. I moaned when he kissed my sensitive skin through my panty.

"You smell so good." He whispered. He slowly slid my panty down my leg, his fingers brushing the inside of my legs.

"Harry." I hissed in pleasure.

"I want to play with you, love. I have missed that the last few days. We have been so busy." He whispered against my skin. "Let me play with you."

"Okay." I whispered breathlessly.

His hands grabbed my ass as he pulled me towards him. His face pressed in the my wetness. I felt his tongue darting out and couldn't help but moan.

Suddenly Harry stood up and pulled me towards the bed. He didn't say anything, he turned me around and pushed me forward.

"Harry?" I asked a bit surprised. Maybe it was the booze but he was much more in control than normal. Normally something new would come from me because Harry just loved to love me gently and carefully.

"Shh… You'll enjoy it." He whispered as he removed his clothes. Slowly he crawled up on the bed an lay on top of me, his lips kissing my ear. "I have found out where you hid Hermione's book and magazine." He whispered. "I have been reading lately."

I couldn't help but moan, his voice was so sexy and his words got me so excited. He must have something good in mind.

"Just trust me." He whispered.

"I always do." I breathed as I felt his cock brush my ass.

Harry moved away from me, slowly placing wet kisses down my spine until he reached my ass. Slowly and softly he started to massage them, I never expected it to be so erotic and sensual but I was moaning with in seconds.

His fingers slowly made their way to my wetness. I was already dripping and aching for him. Slowly I felt one finger fill me, it was a bit new to feel them coming from behind like this but it was delicious anyway. An other finger followed.

"Oh, gods!"

"More?" He hissed.

"Please, Harry." I begged.

He did as asked and inserted a third finger. It just felt so full, so good. He started to move his fingers in and out, first slowly but increasingly rougher. Suddenly he removed one finger and let it move along my clit. My body acted on it's own and my ass moved up in a spasm.

"You like?"

"Yes." I could hissed between the moaned. He was relentless, his fingers continued to move, driving me closer and closer to the edge of oblivion. When I was almost there he slowed down and removed the finger from my clit. I felt him sit up a bit and turned his hand but I was too lost in my pleasure to make anything of it.

Suddenly I felt his finger brush my other spot. I was surprised that it felt even more erotic, I mewled loudly. When he repeated the movement I couldn't help but moan. He stopped moving for a second and let his finger rest on my anus. He carefully pressed a bit against it. It felt strangely good.

When he didn't move I wiggled my butt, indicating to him to continue.

He removed his hand and I heard him fumble with something. I wondered if I wanted to know with what or if I would just trust him and go with the experience. I knew he would never do something really strange so I decided to wait and experience.

Suddenly his hands returned one brushing my wet core and clit and the other softly rubbing my anus.

"Gods!" I moaned.

"Does that feels good?"

"hmmm."

Slowly he pressed harder on my anus, it wasn't something I ever expected to like or do but it felt somehow really good. I heard the fumbling sound again and felt something cold on my ass. I had to bite my lip to prevent the yelp that was trying to escape.

"Relax, I won't hurt you."

"it was cold." I moaned in a half complaint. He only chuckled and increased the movement of his fingers that were playing with my clit. It build up the heat in my body rapidly.

I felt his finger pressing into me again, this time a bit harder.

"Relax." Harry whispered again and to help it along he took my clit between his fingers and pinched it. I moaned loudly. His other hand never left my anus, his finger was still massaging and pressing, when I was able to breath out he pushed harder and his finger slid in.

"Oh Gods!" I moaned. I couldn't think clearly when I felt his finger slide into me even further. "Oh, Harry!"

"Tell me how it feels." He whispered hoarsely. He slowly pulled the finger back out and pushed it back in.

"good, so good." I moaned. He continued playing with me, just as he had said. One hand between my wet folds and the other pumping in and out my black hole. It felt so full, so erotic. I was writhing and moaning and I just couldn't stop it. I felt sweaty and hot.

"Tell me…" Harry started. "Tell me what you want me to do."

"Never stop." I moaned.

He chuckled a bit but the whole tension in the room was too erotic to be really funny or laughing. It was a new experience for the both of us. Harry had never played with me like this before, never had he been bold enough to try something so new.

"Tell me, love. Where do you want my cock?" his voice roughly demanded. "I want… no I need you around my cock… I'm aching… for you… but what about you..."

I thought I was loosing my mind, Harry's fingers never stopped playing with me while he talked so dirty. Every word went straight to my very excited bundle of nerves.

"Do you want me here…" he played with his fingers that where buried deep in my wetness, "Or do you want me here…" he made me scream in pleasure by adding a second finger in my anus. "I have read that for a woman it can be very pleasurable. I even bought toys for you to enjoy it even more."

I was shocked, utterly shocked but even that didn't penetrate my brain as it was too busy enjoying the two fingers that were in me. Still, Harry talking like this, even buying sex toys or wanting to do THAT with me, I couldn't say that I wasn't shocked or surprised.

He noticed it and stopped moving, giving me a chance to catch my breath and think.

"I prepared a bit of a surprise for you." He whispered. "I wanted to make this night special."

I opened my eyes and looked at him. His green eyes were burning, they were a light with lust and desire but behind it was a pleading face. He was begging me to approve.

"When?" I whispered.

"This morning."

"Alone?"

"Of course."

"I love you."

He smiled and carefully leaned forward to kiss me, it was so loving and passionate. Slowly and carefully he returned movement of his fingers, awakening my sensual side even more. I felt loved above all but also wanted, the way Harry made me feel always sparked something.

"Harry…" I moaned.

"Yes, love."

"I want you, it doesn't matter how or where. I just want you to make me scream."

I felt him smile against my lips and suddenly he moved away. The movement of his fingers increased and soon I was squirming and moaned loudly.

Soon I was so close, that I couldn't do anything but beg for release.

"Please Harry just take me!"

"where?" he demanded. This time his voice sounded sure and determined. Now that I had approved of his ideas I think he felt confident to go through with it.

"Where ever… you… want. Please Harry!"

Suddenly he moved away. I wasn't able to open my eyes or stop moaning. I heard a drawer open and close, suddenly there was a soft humming sound.

"Do you trust me?" He asked again.

"Yes."

I was lifted up on my hands and knees. Harry was softly kneading my ass with one hand, the other was playing with my clit again. I squealed when he pressed something vibrating against it.

"Gods!"

"Good?"

"Hmmm…"

The cold stuff was back on my anus again, this time I could only moan, the cold felt good against my warm flesh. The soft vibrating thing returned pressed against my clit, it was hard work to keep my position but I felt Harry's cock rubbing over my ass and anus. I heard him moan softly.

He leaned over me positioning his cock against my black hole. Slowly he pushed. It felt different than the fingers, even more filling. Of course his cock was thicker but I was relaxed enough to grant him entrance.

"Oh… oh… Harry… oooooh."

"Gods, Gin!"

"So thick… So hard."

He slowly slid in completely. I felt his balls against my wet core, it gave something extra to it. Carefully he pumped, a short bit in and out. The vibrating thing rubbed against my clit again and I lost it. I met Harry's movement and increased speed and pace.

"Ginny!" he screamed roughly. His free hand grabbed my hip and he pulled me to him even harder.

Slowly our movements got harder and rougher. He took me like I never imagined. All thoughts of slow and loving things forgotten.

I screamed hard when Harry pushing in me roughly, not of pain but of shear pleasure. I fell over the edge the moment I felt him releasing in me, I could actually feel his warmth spread in me.

We both crashed seconds later. We had just about enough time to cover ourselves with a blanket before we fell asleep.

When I woke up I felt still tired and my head was pounding. I felt a bit hazy but I immediately targeted the fire-whiskey as the cause of my bad state.

"Here drink this." Harry whispered. Apparently he had been awake for a while, as I opened my eyes I noticed that he looked actually pretty healthy. Like the fire-whiskey had left no trace in his body. He was holding up a dark purple vial with potion in it.

"What is it."

"Hermione's anti-hangover potion, Kreacher brought it in an hour ago, it actually works."

I took the vial and swallowed the potion, this one actually tasted good. Most potions tasted badly, dirt or puke like but this one had a bit of lemon in it. Harry was right it worked as well, the uneasy feeling in my stomach and the pain in my head left immediately.

"Thanks, that worked perfectly." I said with a more awake smile. Harry smiled at me but it wasn't convincing. It didn't reach his eyes as it normally would. "Something wrong?" I asked as I turned on my back so I could look at him properly.

"No… not really." He tried to lie.

I poked him in the side where he is ticklish.

"Don't lie, you know you can't."

He squirmed a bit under my fingers but it wasn't completely free and happy.

"now tell me, what is wrong?"

He sighed and sat up a bit.

"I feel a bit weird about last night." He admitted with an impressive blush.

"What? Why? You had planned it."

"No, not like that." He whispered.

"You bought toys." I pointed out. "and apparently you have read about anal sex because you had knowledge about it. If you didn't it would have hurt."

"Yes, yes, yes. I know." He said quickly, his face became even more flushed. "Still I didn't plan on doing that!"

"Explain please because this is confusing my sleepy brain."

"Yes, I did buy the toys, I remember you saying that it would be something interesting."

"I did." I admitted.

"and yes, I did read about that in that book, I was intrigued by that idea especially because they said it could be very pleasurable for women… but I never wanted to do THAT immediately. I thought I could see how you react to something like that, I never expected to do it."

"Too fast?" I asked.

"Yes, no, I don't know. Maybe it was the fire-whiskey that clouded my thinking a bit too much."

"Harry, if it makes you feel any better, I really loved it. I really hope we could play like that again."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Now I really want to take a shower and make it to Gringotts before it gets too busy."

I tried to get up but Harry held me down.

"Love, no matter how fast you shower and run, you'll only get there in time if you use a time turner."

"What! What time is it anyway?"

"It's almost noon." Harry chuckled.

"Oh, no. I really wanted to go to Gringotts and get everything sorted out." I groaned.

"You can always do it tomorrow."

"I know." I sighed and wrapped my arms around him, if I wasn't going to the bank than I might as well enjoy my time in bed.

I made it to Gringotts on Wednesday, I honestly thought I was going to walk in there, make sure that everything was arranged so that my salary could be added to my own vault, at least I believed that I had my own vault, and walk out again to go home.

I was shocked beyond believe to find out that Harry had just added me to his vault, or to say the Potter family fault and the Black family vault. The key I had was a way to prove that I had the right to enter them, nothing more. The head of Gringotts insisted to give me a short tour of the vaults, which wasn't something I was looking forward too, really.

It was much worse than I expected. The Potter family fault had me registered as a member of the family already. The Black fault accepted me as a heir as well.

And the gold, jewelry and arts in them, not to mention the books, it was just too much. I didn't look at it properly. I just wondered if the money I would earn would be even noticed. It was ridiculous and for the first time I could understand why Harry had no issues with giving money away, he just wouldn't miss it anyway.

After a shocking tour the goblin assured me that everything was already arranged with the Harpies and wished me good luck with my carrier. I was absolutely stunned when I left the bank. For an hour I just walked around Diagon Alley not noticed anything really. I was too busy with coming to terms with what I had learned at the back.

To sum it up it was really simple. Harry had Gringotts register me as family, the Potter vault was clear, I was his wife, maybe not officially but that didn't matter, that meant that the Black family vault recognized me as a heir to the wealth that it held. The simple part was that if I wanted I would never ever have to work and my grandkids neither and there would still be enough money.

I just didn't know how to handle that knowledge.

"Ginny!" I heard somebody call. It was the first time in an hour that I actually noticed somebody talking. I turned around to see where the sound came from. "Ginny!"

A few shops away a woman was waving at me, at first I didn't recognize her but as she came hurrying towards me I noticed it was Elian Kelly, the new head of Gryffindor, I had never seen her in muggle clothing before.

"Elian?" I asked.

"Hey Ginny. It's good to see you."

Suddenly the woman hugged me friendly and smiled at me.

"I never got the chance to talk to after you graduated." She said happily. "I was hoping to see you here, I'm in London for a few days, doing some shopping before returning to the castle. I was thinking I should write you but that could have been so weird. I really hoped we could stay friends after you finished school. I don't know many people in this country my whole family lives in Ireland and I hoped to make some friend here…"

"Elian!" I called, the woman was rattling non stop without taking a breath. "Elian, remember to breath."

"Oh, yes." She said with a blush. "I'm going to fast, sorry. I'm just happy to see you."

"I got that part." I said with a smile. I was happy to see her as well, even if it was only because she made me forget about the hell I just went through, okay I'm being a drama queen but still Elian was a welcome distraction. " I'm happy to see you too."

"Good." Elian sighed. "shall we have lunch together?"

"Uhm,… yeah why not."

"You don't have to be anywhere have you? Do you have plans?"

"Elian, I said yes, and no, I don't have any plans. Harry is out with Kingsley for the day and I was on my way home."

She smiled and looked around the street.

"Let's go to the Witches brew. It's a good place for lunch." She said. I nodded and turned to walk with her.

"So you are here only for a few days?" I asked her as we sat down at a table in the small lunch room.

"Yes, I needed some new robes and books for the new school year, so I decided to go a long weekend and do some sightseeing in muggle London."

"Are you alone here?"

"Since this morning, my mom went along with me for a few days but I'm heading back to the castle tonight so I decided to do all my shopping today." She said while she read the menu. I looked at Elian for a while, though it was strange to see her in muggle clothing she still looked like the happy open woman she had been when she came to visit me in the hospital wing every day at the beginning of my last Hogwarts year.

After we ordered she looked up at me and smiled.

"It's really good to see you again. After that fight with your mother and the articles written about you I was so worried." She said caringly.

"Thanks. It wasn't the easiest time, no." I admitted.

"I really hoped I would see you here in London, I had been planning on writing you as soon as I got back to Hogwarts."

"Why?"

"Like I rambled before, I really consider you a friend but with the fight during the graduation party I never got the chance to tell you and to plan some friends time together. I don't even know how you feel about it, so I thought writing you a mile long letter would be a good idea." She said with as very girly blush.

I couldn't help but laugh at her, she looked so ashamed of the fact that she wanted a friend, also I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, she had been at Hogwarts for a year now, still she felt like she didn't have real friends.

"To be honest, Elian, I really considered you a friend from the start of last school year. A mere teacher or head of house wouldn't have visited me daily to check up on me. Only McGonagall does something like that and friends."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Oh, Ginny, that makes me really happy. You know it sounds pathetic but I'm so much younger than the other teachers that I feel a bit out of place there, not in the position to really make friends with them."

"Minerva McGonagall can be a really good friend. I know a little about her outside the school, she is like the best aunt ever. You can talk to her about personal things and ask for guidance without feeling ashamed but she also loves to gossip."

"Really? I would never thought she'd be the one for small talk."

"Oh you should hear her with my mom. They talk nonstop about the silliest gossip."

Elian laughed loudly, her laugh was infectious.

"Really, I still can't imagine that. And it's still really pathetic that I can't seem to make friends here." Elian sighed.

"well, you can count me and Harry in that small group of friends of yours."

"Harry as well?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks, how is he doing anyway? I constantly see his face in the news paper. Even after a year they just can't seem to stop writing about him."

"He is dealing with it as well as I could wish. Harry is just ignoring all reports about him."

"That's good, I'm sure I couldn't, but the two of you seem strong."

"Well, they mostly write shit about us, specially with Ron and Hermione's wedding coming up. They are speculating on why we aren't engaged yet. It might be harder to ignore Friday."

"Oh it's the start of the Quidditch season Friday!" Elian immediately caught on. I liked that about her she was shy and all but very quick of mind and a huge Quidditch fan.

"Yes, we have team presentations Friday."

"I know I was planning on being there but McGonagall scheduled a teachers day that day and it's a surprise what we are going to do. She said we would do something fun but what's fun about missing the start of the Quidditch season."

"I'm not sure if the team presentation will be that much fun. Not for me at least, by the time we have the fan meetings and the demo's I'll be so cranky from the reporters that I'm not sure if they will enjoy my presence."

"You'll be fine, the team will help you, of course."

"I hope so."

Elian and I chatted a little longer about Quidditch and about my expectation of my first season, which weren't very high. The team consisted out of six chasers, all of them more experienced and better trained than me, I just hoped I would get a few minutes of match time. After a long lunch I promised Elian that she was welcome to visit and write whenever she needed some time away from the castle and waved goodbye.

I apparated back to the Summer house to prepare myself for Friday. I really needed time to mentally prepare myself, think about ways to dodge personal questions and how to enjoy the rest of the day after the press meeting.

"Master Harry is up in the library, Mistress Ginny." Drooble said as he greeted me at the door.

"Is he home already?" I asked surprised.

"Yes, he is looking over some plans, he said."

"I'll go up and see."

"Should Drooble make you lunch, mistress Ginny?"

"No, I have had lunch already."

I walked to the library and found the door open. Besides the shuffling of paper it was quiet inside. Slowly I pushed the door open and walked in. Harry was sitting at the large mahogany desk bent over a stack of papers. He hadn't noticed me.

I slowly walked around the desk and looked at the papers on it. There was a stack of drawings and ministry files on the desk, non of it made much sense to me but Harry was totally focused on them. When I was behind him I carefully wrapped my arms around his waist. He gasped a bit in shock but very quickly relaxed.

"Hey." He whispered. "You are back late, did it take so long at Gringotts?" He turned around and pulled me into his lap.

"No, though I couldn't come back immediately after I visited the bank."

"Why not? You didn't have any other plans, did you?"

"No I didn't but because you failed to mention some details about your arrangements involving me at Gringotts I needed a good walk to clear my head." I looked at him pointedly.

"Oh, that."

"Yes, that!"

"Were you very angry?"

"No, because I should have guessed. I should have known that you did something as crazy as that. It was just the enormity off it all, of all that wealth made me a bit off balance. I don't think I could have apparated immediately after."

Harry smiled indulgent at me and kissed my neck softly.

"You now know why I don't mind sharing. You can use it as you wish."

"You are still silly." I laughed.

"So tell me why you are back home later than you had planned."

"I ran into Elian Kelly."

"The teacher you liked so much? That Elian Kelly?"

"Yes, I was strolling through Diagon Alley trying to get some sort of control over my thoughts when I heard somebody call my name. She was shopping for the new school year. She invited me for lunch."

"Had she anything important?"

"She's just lonely. She misses having friends. Harry, honestly it was so funny, she was so ashamed of asking me to be her friend. Like that was even necessary." I laughed. "So, why are you back so early, I thought you were off with Kingsley?"

"I found these at the ministry when I was going through some files about my family."

I looked down at the table, it looked like a map. When I looked closer I realized that it was indeed a floor plan of a building.

"What is this from?"

"It is the floor plan of the house in Godric's Hollow."

"Really?"

"Yes, Kingsley told me that the new team appointed with re-filing everything found quite a few files about my family, mainly personal items, these were in them as well. I was curious to see what the house had looked like. What do you think?" He asked as he pointed to the map.

I looked better, at the room descriptions and at the lay-out. It looked like a proper house. The entrance hall simple, not as grand as this one. The rooms were reasonable sized, nothing too big but large enough for a family. The same went for the upper part of the house. It had three large bed rooms, one master suite and two with small en-suite bathrooms and three smaller rooms, one next to the master which I guessed had been used as a nursery. The others looked like children's rooms.

I glanced at Harry, his eyes were almost pleading with me to like it.

"You want to rebuild it likes this." I concluded. Blushing slightly he nodded. I turned to look at the maps again, I couldn't deny that it didn't look like a good comfortable home it was just that I loved it here at the Summer house. I wasn't sure if we would ever find the peace and quiet we have here in Godric's Hollow.

"What do you think?" Harry asked.

"I don't know Harry." I sighed. "If you really want it… it's just that I really love it here, it peaceful and quiet, I don't know if we can get that in Godric's Hollow."

"I know but I don't know if I want that for the rest of my life. Now, it's nice but one day the hype around me will lessen, I think that the longer we stay hidden the longer it will take for that to happen. Besides that, I don't want my kids to grow up hidden from the real world, I want them to be able to play with kids from neighbors, I want them to be able to meet other people, people outside our group of friends and family. I want to be able to do that, I think I want neighbors to talk over the fence with, walk to the bakery and buy bread. Just simple village life."

He was painting again a perfect picture.

"It's sound like a wonderful idea but what about this house? What about Drooble and Kreacher? They both love to take care of us we just can't leave them like that."

"I know but they aren't bound to a house. Kreacher has worked at Hogwarts for quite sometime. Maybe they will be willing to share the care of three houses between the two of them."

It could indeed be an idea but I still wasn't sure. I looked at the plan again, the main issue was that I couldn't imagine it. I had never seen the location of the house, I had only been in Godric's Hollow for a few minutes, I just didn't know. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Listen, let me rebuild the house, see what you think of Godric's Hollow, we'll decided where we are going to live once it's done" Harry tried.

"You really want this, don't you?"

"Yes." He said strongly. His eyes still pleading with me to give in and to understand.

"Alright." I sighed. "Go ahead. I'll help you where I can and give Godric's Hollow a honest try."

"Thanks Ginny. You really are the best in the world."


	47. Team introduction

**Aren't I quick! I figured I had to make up for all the delays I caused... so here is the next chapter... not too long but I think the next few chapters won't be extremely long... all will be small shotts of Ginny's life...**

**Please Review! I need them to keep me motivated!**

* * *

**47. Team introduction.**

_30__th__ July 1999_

"Miss Weasley, you are together with mister Potter for a long time already, when can we expect the news of your engagement?"

I closed my eyes and sighed. This was the tenth time a reporter asked me this and it was only ten-thirty in the morning.

"Excuse me, first of all that is private and secondly I'm here because of my place with the Holyhead Harpies, if you don't have anything to ask about Quidditch or my place in the team than I suggest that you give an other reporter the chance." I said calmly.

Earlier that morning Gwen had taken me aside and explained to me how important it was to keep my temper in check during these interviews and how to deal with questions that were too personal.

"But, you have to understand Miss Weasley, the whole wizarding world is very interested in what is happening with Mister Potter."

"Yes, but you are talking to Miss Weasley, of you don't have any questions for her than I suggest you move along." Gwen suddenly snapped. I had noticed she had been keeping an eye on me and the reporters. I felt bad that she felt the need to do that but I really appreciated it, it made me feel more at ease somehow. The reporter glared at Gwen but nodded and walked away.

"Thanks." I whispered to Gwen. I was thankful for her interference but I still felt like I needed to be able to deal with those questions myself.

"Don't worry about it, Ginny. I've expected something like this. I feel a bit sorry for you but I know you'll soon be strong enough to deal with it all yourself."

"I don't know…"

"You wait and see, once they have seen you in a match they won't talk about Harry anymore. They will only ramble about your skills."

"I hope so." I sighed. I glanced at the line of reporters still waiting to talk to me, it just looked like it kept growing.

"Don't worry, you only have half an hour of torture left." Gwen said with a smile. I nodded and returned my attention to the reported that had taken place in front of me.

"Good morning Miss Weasley. I'm Achmed from the Turkish International Quidditch magazine. How are you?"

"Good morning, mister Achmed. I'm fine, thanks." I said with a smile. I had quickly learned that international reporters mostly asked Quidditch related questions because they didn't see us as war hero's, they just saw me as a new Quidditch player.

"I'm working on a article about women playing Quidditch, it's something that is just starting to happen in my country, you as a young woman, apparently a strong woman as you are according to my colleagues a war hero, do you have any tips for the young girls who just starting to play Quidditch in my country?"

His question was a bit of a surprise, non of the other reporters had very serious questions. They mainly asked questions about the war or Harry and those who had Quidditch related questions asked simple things like about my expectations for my position in the team. I really appreciated the professional approach of this man and I took a minute to think about a proper answer.

"Quidditch has always been in my family. As a five-year-old I watched my brothers play, during the summer when I got back from school I would sneak out and practice when the others weren't paying attention but honestly I learned most from watching other, better players. You really have to pay attention to their movements and listen to your team captain, they spend hours figuring out how best to train you."

The reporter nodded and his quill was racing away. I watched that what he wrote down was exactly what I had said and not some made-up version. He altered my words a bit but I guessed that it was more understandable that way.

"You start your first season as a professional, is there anything in particular that you look forward too?"

"The matches, actually. I love the training and I love the family feel this team gives but I can't wait to fly and win matches in front of a cheering crowed."

"Anything that you fear?"

"making a fool out of myself."

"Can you explain that?"

"I have only flown for a school team, I'm not sure yet if my skills are good enough for professional Quidditch."

The reporter looked up and smiled. He looked really friendly.

"I'm sure you are good enough, the Harpies don't select easily, I have heard. Anyway, my last question, I hope you don't mind me asking but my readers really wanted to know. Even in our country your man is a hero, a good example to the young kids, stories reached our magazines and his picture hangs above every girl's bed. My readers have asked you to asked this following question." He paused and I braced myself for the annoying question. "Rumor has it that it was Harry Potter that first selected you for the Quidditch team, that he was captain of the Gryffindor team and that he has the skill for flying professional, yet he doesn't, he chooses for a life at the ministry. Is it all true and why doesn't he fly professional?"

My eyes widen a bit in surprise, this wasn't half as bad as the other questions about Harry had been. Some reporters even had the nerve to ask about my sex life, this at least was Quidditch related.

"Oh, uhm…" I glanced at Gwen but she just smiled. "I'll tell Harry about his international fans, that's for sure. To answer your question, yes, Harry was captain of the school team I flew in but he didn't selected me. I was actually selected a year before Harry became captain to temporary replace him as Seeker. The next year when he got back on the team he took up his place as Seeker and as Captain, that's when he selected me as Chaser. Harry is the best Seeker Gryffindor had seen in a century but I don't think he ever imagined himself as a professional player, he loves hunting dark wizards too much but if you want conformation you'll have to contact him yourself."

The reporter nodded and let his quill write everything down, I was surprised to see how honest he was, he copied down every word.

"Thank you, miss Weasley, good luck."

"Thanks."

Gwen walked over to me and laid her hand on my shoulder.

"See, not all of them are bad. To be honest we need them, they keep people interested in Quidditch enough so that they come and watch our matches."

"I know, Gwen, I know. It's just hard when people ask you if Harry is satisfying between the sheets."

"I can imagine that." Gwen laughed loudly. "Come on this torture is over, I have a surprise for you before we chance into Quidditch outfit and meet the fans."

I got up and followed her to her office. I wondered what kind of surprise she would have, I knew that Harry and the other men were outside with the fans waiting for our presentation so she couldn't have arranged some alone time with Harry to calm me down.

She opened the door to her office and let me in.

"Ginny!" Somebody squealed and I was pulled in a hug.

"Colleen?" I gasped.

"Isn't it awesome, McGonagall invited me along so I could be here. Mom is sick and she couldn't make it. I was so bumped that I couldn't come and than there was the letter asking me to join the teachers today." Colleen rambled.

"Let her breath, Miss Hellworn." A stern voice came from behind me. When Colleen released me I turned around to see Minerva McGonagall, Elian Kelly and many other Hogwarts teachers smiling at me.

"Good morning miss Weasley." McGonagall said with a smile.

"Hey. Good morning." I said with a blush.

"It's this a nice surprise!" Elian squealed as she hugged me as well. "I'm so happy to be here at the presentation after all."

"Hello, Elian." I whispered as I returned her hug.

"We came to support Hogwarts's biggest supporter." McGonagall said as she shook my hand. "How have you been, Ginevra?"

"Please, it's Ginny. I have been doing really well. It was a hard morning but I can't wait to meet the fans and fly." I answered her. I shook hands with all the professors. Slughorn was there, Flitwick, Sondrom who was the Defence teacher for a second year in a row, madam Hooch and madam Sprout.

"Hagrid is here as well but we walking into Harry and they are still talking." McGonagall explained. I nodded and smiled at all the teachers.

"This is so nice." I whispered. It made me a bit humble that McGonagall had arranged for them all to be there. I had never expected people to be at the presentation for me, I knew Harry, Ron and Hermione would be there, I had personally arranged tickets for them but this was really awesome. I couldn't help but grin.

"Gin, we don't have much time now, we have to get ready but you can talk later." Gwen said gently.

"Yes, Ginny, we will see you after you are done showing off your skills." Colleen joked and ran out. The others said a short goodbye and left the room as well. Gwen and I went to the changing room where the rest of the team was waiting for us.

After a quick run-through of the plan for the presentation we changed into our new Quidditch gear. That's where I got nervous.

"Don't be nervous, Ginny." Irial said softly. "the fans will love you not matter what."

"I know, I just can't seem to get over the fact that today I'm actually starting my dream life. It's so hard to grasp when just a bit more than a year ago I thought I had lost everything."

"I know, we all felt like that. For you, actually fighting at Hogwarts, it was probably even worse but when he was at his strongest we were all scared and afraid that we would loose everything we had worked for. For all of us today will be a new start, last season it was rebuilding, now we are actually going to do it."

"Are you nervous?" I asked her.

"About today?"

"Yes."

"No, about today I'm excited, you shall see it will be so much fun. Just go with it, the fans will be great."

I nodded but found it hard to shake of the feeling of making a big step. It felt like after today I had nothing wish for anymore. I had the man of my dreams, the job of my dreams, the house of my dreams, actually from today on I had the life I could only have dreamed off. What else could a woman want?

Somehow that empty question seemed to linger in my mind. Maybe tomorrow I would find an answer.

The presentation was indeed awesome. Gwen had us all wait below the pitch while she introduced us one by one. She was really enthusiastic, exaggerating details about everybody but when it was my turn she really over did it.

"And next, our hope for the future, Gryffindor's princes, war-hero and best Chaser ever, the beautiful, wonderful and skillful red head, Ginevra Weasley! Oh yeah, just name her Ginny!"

I laughed loudly at her as I flew onto the pitch. The crowd was roaring and screaming loudly. As agreed we all would fly a lap around the stands before landing next to Gwen. I didn't get a chance to really look at the faces in the crowd I was too swept up in the noise of the fans.

"This is awesome." I breathed as I landed next to Elly.

"I know, even after seven season I still get the chills on these days." She said loud enough for me to hear it. "Did you see your family?"

"No."

"How can you miss them! There are seven red heads over there!" Elly pointed to the stand where I knew the husbands and boyfriends would be. To my big surprise my whole family was there, Mom, dad, Percy and Audrey, Bill and Fleur, Charlie and Luna, George and Ange, Ron and Hermione and Harry. They were all smiling and clapping loudly. Luna even supported a large hat with my name on it.

"They are crazy." I concluded, making Patricia one of the Chasers laugh loudly as she landed next to me.

"Isn't it nice to have your whole family here?" she asked.

"Yeah, it is but they are still crazy."

"I have seen a large banner with your name on it on the other side of the pitch as well." She pointed out.

I turned around to the area that she pointed to, there the teachers were standing, they were surrounded by my former Gryffindor team and a few of my house friends. It was awesome to see them but I wasn't sure if I would have time to talk to them at all.

To show off the teams skills Gwen had developed a few flying tactics and show stunts. It mainly meant the normal tactics more showy but it was a good way for me to get comfortable with flying in the team. We were passing around the ball at very high speed and trying to score so that our keepers could show off as well. The more I passed the Quaffle the quicker and confident I became, I even managed to score against Elly.

The crowd was cheering loudly. I even heard George roar loudly when I scored. We flew around for about twenty minutes before Gwen called it quits and ordered us to land and give the fans the chance to ask for a picture or a autograph.

It was something I had to get used to but the idea of signing a t-shirt or a Quaffle so that a kid could show it off to his or her friends was weird. Mainly because I felt I hadn't done anything yet. I hadn't played a match or scored a goal.

When the security wizards opened the first gate of the stands a large group of fans raced onto the pitch. I stayed behind the rest of the team a bit. Though I wasn't the only new one, I was the only one who hadn't flown professional before, Gwen had only attracted two players besides me, both woman came from overseas and had flown in their own country's league. They had the right to be with the fans.

"Miss Weasley! Miss Weasley! Can I get my picture taken with you?" A small girl asked as she raced towards me. Her father was following quickly, I don't think the child was older than five years.

A bit baffled about why the small girl want to take a picture with me, I smiled and nodded. I knelt down next to the girl as her father took our picture.

"Will you please sign it as well?" The little girl asked as a bit of muggle paper came out of the camera.

"It's a muggle camera. It makes instant pictures." The father explained.

"Of course, I'll sign it." Gwen had given us self-inking quills for today. I guess you could say she was prepared.

"What's your name, little one?" I asked.

"Molly, Miss Weasley."

"Really?" I asked surprised. The girl smiled happily and nodded. "My mother's name is Molly as well." I commented. The little girl was giggling happily and blushed a bit. I signed the photo with a well wish for the little Molly and as I got up I saw a row forming behind her. Apparently more people wanted a bit of attention from me.

Not all so called fans were as nice as the little Molly. Some older fans were really strange. Some girls a few years younger than me asked me if I could arrange a meeting with Harry, _should have seen that one coming_. Even stranger there were two men who actually asked me to leave Harry and marry them. _Pathetic_!

There was one who topped them all, he was down right scary. His kid was really nice, the child asked me for a picture and a autograph kindly and chatted a bit about how he liked to fly and play Quidditch but his father was glaring at the kid. Like he was doing something that he wasn't allowed to do. Once the kid was off to the next of my team members the father stepped closer to me.

"Blood traitors shouldn't be allowed to play in our sport. Especially those who fought against the real ministry." He growled. "They should have killed you."

I looked up at the man, I didn't recognize him as a Death Eater, nor had I ever seen him, he looked like he came from an other country. His eyes terrified me, they were so cold and calculated.

I must have paled or something because the moment the man turned around my bracelet glowed hot and a message appeared, '_are you okay?_' I looked up towards the stand where Harry sat, he was close by and was watching me very closely. I only noticed then that Arn and Kingsley were there as well, as were a few other aurors. I shook my head to say 'no' I was honestly shaken by the man with the cold look in his eyes.

Arn, Kingsley and Harry got up immediately and walked towards me. Gwen noticed because she looked at me concerned before looking around for her team. She was the mamma bear when it came to her team, no one hurt her team.

"What happened?" Harry asked quietly as soon as he reached me.

"That man, I don't know, maybe he's a Death Eater. He said something like Blood traitors shouldn't be playing in 'our' sport and especially not those who had fought against the real ministry. He even said that they should have killed me."

I pointed out the man who was slowly making his way away from the pitch. Harry was looking murderous in the direction that I pointed.

"He looked so cold, like he had been planning on approaching me. His eyes, they shook me. Like ice." I whispered.

"We'll get him and take him for questioning." Arn said and disappeared.

"You have still two stands to go, do you want to stay or shall I take you home?" Harry asked concerned.

I glanced at the stands, it were the family and friends areas, I had been looking forward to see and talk to everybody. I knew Harry wanted to take me away from danger but I couldn't give in now, I wasn't going to let fear rule my life any longer.

"I'm okay now." I sighed and relaxed a bit. "That man just caught me of guard."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'll see you in a few minutes." I said and kissed him quickly.

"Harry and I will help Arn's men and scan the area for more trouble. Try and have fun." Kingsley said with a smile.

I nodded and returned my attention to the waiting group of fans.

I was happy when it was all over and we were allowed to have some time with friends and family. It wasn't that it hadn't been amazing, the fans had been awesome and so much fun but after the encounter I was constantly on guard and questioned every adult that walked around the pitch.

"Ginny!" Colleen squealed as she ran onto the pitch. "You flew amazing. You sure did train a lot over the summer."

"Yeah, it looked amazing." Angelina said, she sounded wistfully and I felt sorry for her she wasn't in the team as well.

We had a good hour to catch up with everyone. I only talked to the teachers for a short while, they had other activities planned and left after fifteen minutes. McGonagall had to drag Hagrid away from Charlie as they were discussing dragons again. I promised Elian to get her tickets for our first match and write her. She invited me to come and visit her at the castle which I gladly accepted.

Colleen was already in hefty discussion with Elly by the time I really got the chance to talk to my former school friends. I knew that I would see her regularly as Gwen had offered her a place for every camp. So, come Monday she would be chatting the ears from my head.

I wasn't surprised to hear that Elian had made Colleen captain of the Gryffindor team. She sure had picked out the most Quidditch crazy girl and I was sure Colleen would learn a lot from the camp which she could use to train the Gryffindor team.

The others hadn't that much to tell, Lee talked about how he wanted exclusives about my career for his show and about his ideas of continuing a Potter watch. Harry almost jinxed him when he talked about wanting exclusive rights to the proposal and pregnancies. I had to admit if anyone must have it I'd rather Lee had it than some stranger or worse that Skeeter woman but I wasn't about to tell a murderous Harry.

Seamus was there, he was practically begging me to arrange tickets for him for every match. Besides that he told me about his new job back home. He was working for a company that that was specialized in research to magical explosions and fireworks. It was a perfect job for him as he seemed to make explosions happen daily at school.

All too quickly the others left and the only people left on the pitch were team members and their family.

"Did you get him?" I asked Harry when he walked towards us.

"Yes, Kingsley and Arn have taking him to the ministry for questioning."

"What about the son?" I asked.

"They have taken him along as well. It wasn't very traumatic for the kid. Kingsley kept it rather quiet."

"What happened?" Mom demanded.

I sighed and retold the whole episode. By the time I was finished Gwen had joined us and was listening carefully.

"That's going to be a problem, Ginny." She said after I finished. "It might be a while before you can move around safely. Maybe we should have security around here all the time."

"Gwen, don't worry about it. I can defend myself very well. This guy just caught me off guard because his son was so cute. I never expected something like that to come from him. I won't make that mistake twice."

"Are you sure?" Gwen and Harry asked at the same time.

"Yes." I sighed. "I want to be able to do what I want and not worry about security and dark wizards. That isn't the life I want to live. Besides I really am able to defend myself."

"I know, Gin. I know." Harry said quickly. "So no extra security during practice or camp?"

"No, it won't be necessary."

Harry nodded although I could see on his face that he wasn't too happy about it. Neither was Gwen for that matter but I think she rather stayed out of it and let Harry and I handle it ourselves. She decided a change of topic was in order.

"Okay, team, pay attention! Next Monday morning we will leave for a five day camp. We will only be joined by Colleen Hellworn, besides that it will be our official start of the season and I want you all to be focused. So use the weekend to deal with any sort of trouble or distraction you might have and report back here completely focused Monday morning at eight."

Everybody said a quick goodbye and headed home to be with friends and family.

"Ginny, Harry?" Mom called. "Will you two come to the Burrow for dinner on Saturday?"

"Uhm… No sorry, Molly. We have plans for this weekend." Harry answered quickly. My mom's face fell into a sad pout.

"What plans?" she asked, she didn't sounded too friendly. I glanced at Harry, I knew we had some plans to privately celebrate his birthday but I didn't knew that it would take the whole weekend.

"Lets see, Saturday we have reservations at a muggle restaurant for dinner and in the afternoon a building company is having a look at the house in Godric's Hollow and on Sunday Teddy is staying with us and I'm planning on taking him to a playground."

I didn't knew about Harry's plan to go to Godric's Hollow and I didn't knew he had plans to take out Teddy for the day but they all sounded like a reasonable excuse and plan to get away from my mom's secret birthday celebrations.

We had expected mom to do something for Harry's birthday anyway, she isn't the kind of person that takes 'no' for an answer, we had discussed the possibilities of her plans, a family dinner was taken into account rather quickly but we also thought about the idea of her just showing up at the Summer house. It was something she would do so we decided to have some sort of plan to not be at home during the day.

"Oh well.." Mom huffed and turned to walk away.

"Ginny, is this really necessary?" My dad asked in a whisper. "She really hoped on throwing Harry and you a birthday party."

"Dad, I told her last Monday that Harry and I would celebrate our birthday together and why we had decided so. We are too busy to enjoy two parties. It won't be fun for either of us. She will have to accept that it is our choice."

My dad nodded but he looked worried at mom.

"Isn't there something you could do to make her feel like she is taking care of her kids again? She really misses that."

"I don't know dad." I sighed. "maybe she should find a new hobby."

"We could let her make a cake for the actual party." Harry said suddenly.

"Yeah, that isn't a bad idea." I said quickly. If it only was the cake she did it would be okay. I just didn't want her to interfere in everything we did. "Mom! If you really want to do something for our birthday, why don't you make the cake for the party?" I called after her.

She turned around and smiled.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah, why not. I just don't know the exact date yet. It will be after the camp but we will let you know, alright?"

"That would be nice, I'll make you two the best cake ever."

"I know you will, mom."

Mom was much happier when she left and I didn't fell very bad about having her do something for the birthday party, maybe we were getting there with the balancing thing.

After I said goodbye to the team Harry took me home. I know I could have apparated myself but Harry was still a bit shocked by the earlier incident and he wouldn't let go of me soon, so I let him take me along with him.

"Are you okay?" he asked as our feet hit the ground.

"Yeah. I'm alright Harry. You know I'm alright."

"Yes." He sighed. "I know."

"Harry, darling, you are worrying too much about me." I said as I kissed him lightly.

"Do I? Really?"

"Yes."

"I don't know, Gin. You looked so shaken up by what happened." He pressed. I took his hand and started to walk towards the house.

"I was. Honestly." I admitted. "I was completely taken by surprise. The kid was so nice and friendly and than his father comes up and be so mean and so cold…but I won't make that mistake again, Harry. I should have expected something like that, the world isn't one happy place and it won't ever be, there will always be someone who thinks like that."

"So, you are really okay with it all?"

"I am now."

He smiled at me and kissed me happily.

"I'm sorry that I'm being a bit over-protective sometimes." He whispered.

"I know and it's okay. I don't expect any different from you. I love you."

"I love you too."

After a few more kisses Harry and I made it to the rose garden where Drooble was waiting on the deck for us with dinner.

"How were the interviews?" Harry asked as we sat down.

"Horrible!" I groaned. "eighty percent of the reporters asked about us. About if we were engaged or if you are single again. About our sex life! It was really annoying."

"No one asked good questions?"

"The reporters from other countries were more interested in Quidditch." I said thoughtfully before remembering the Turkish reporter. "Did you know you had a fanclub in Turkey?"

"What? You are kidding?"

"No." I giggled. "There was this one reporter from Turkey, he was really nice and asked proper questions. Only his last question was about you. He told me that a lot of Turkish youngsters see you as an example, a real hero."

Harry sputtered at the word he hated so much but in all honesty he really had to start learning to just deal with it.

"He asked if you were the one that selected me on the Gryffindor team and if it was true that you had professional flying qualities and if so why you weren't flying professional."

"That's an awful lot." Harry sighed.

"Nah, he really asked it in a friendly and kind way. I answered in all honesty but I told him that if he wanted to know more about you he should write you. If you have to do an interview you better do it with him, I figured."

Harry just chuckled and shook his head.

"I can't wait to see what will be published about you or us after this day."

"Probably a lot of shit. I think it will be somewhere along the line of '_Ginny Weasley is too arrogant to answer a simple question_' or, '_still no engagement, will Harry leave her?_'. Gods I can think of a thousand new headlines, maybe I should start a career in reporting." I laughed.

"Than I advise you not to close an exclusive deal with Lee." Harry said casually but there was some real emotion behind it.

"Are you very upset?"

"I don't know yet." Harry said seriously.

"Harry." I sighed. "I wasn't completely serious with Lee but in all honesty, I'd rather Lee got the exclusives than some hag like Rita Skeeter."

"Why should anyone get exclusives? I don't want the whole world to know what I do or when our kids are born."

"I know, Harry, but people will find out. They will see me wearing a ring when we get engaged, I mean I won't ever take it off and I'm pretty sure a pregnancy will start to show one day. People will know. We can only hope that by than they won't be as interested."

"but that chance is very slim." Harry concluded for me.

"I think so."

Harry sat silently for a while, staring in the distance. I could see he was thinking hard but about what I wasn't going to ask, he would probably tell soon enough.

Drooble served dinner and we at in silence for a while, the wrinkles on Harry's forehead told me he was still thinking. Suddenly he sighed and opened his mouth.

"We are wizards, surely we could go and live on the moon. There is nobody who will be looking for us up there."

I laughed loudly. He could be so funny, even if he didn't meant to.

"Harry, darling, I would follow you almost everywhere but Godric's Hollow is a big step enough for now." I laughed. Even he chuckled, our life was crazy and we both knew that it could only get more crazy.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Harry asked after a while.

"For Godric's Hollow, or do you mean your birthday?"

"Both." He laughed freely.

"Yes, I think I am, just don't expect us to be ready before noon." I said with a suggestive wink.


	48. Too Perfect?

_**I know this isn't probably my best chapter and most of you will think of it as boring... not much action but the set up for the move to Godric's little town...**_

_**Next chapter there will be more action but I realized that due to health issues and a holiday I haven't updated for a while so I had to right that...**_

_**please review, give me your ideas for how to continue maybe I can use them!**_

* * *

**48. Too perfect?**

"Harry are you sure you want to live in a town where they have a statue of you in the centre square?"

"I know, it's horrible. Maybe I can get Kingsley to remove it." Harry groaned as he watched the life-size statue of his family.

"I don't think he'll do that. It will probably be replaced by a statue of only you." I chuckled.

Harry groaned and spun me around. He was torn between glaring or laughing at me.

"Are you taking any of this seriously or not?" he demanded.

"Nah!" I said as I shook my head. I took a step back, pulled myself free from his hands and ran away. The whole morning I had been in a kiddy kind of mood. Tickling him until he finally woke up. Playing with our breakfast when Drooble served it on bed.

Harry didn't complain a lot as he got much pleasure out of my playful mood. Though it did made us very late for all other plans we had.

I giggled as I heard Harry chase after me. I ran as hard as I could in the direction of the house, knowing that in fifteen minutes we would meet with the person that would do the rebuild.

I was fast but not fast enough. I felt Harry's hands wrap around my waist and pull me back.

"You sneaky little witch." He growled. "What has gotten into you today?"

"Nothing!" I squealed as he tickled me merciless.

"Really?" he laughed as he continued teasing me. "Because you are a very bad girl today."

"I'm not!" I squealed as he found the spot that I was most ticklish.

Stumbling and playing we made it towards the house where we fell down in the grass. Both laughing loudly.

"So, what do you think of the village so far?" Harry asked after he was able to stop laughing. We had been walking through the small town for about an hour. Visiting the graves of Harry's parents, the towns square and the few shops it held. It was very much still a medieval city. It had a bakery, a post office, two shops for clothing, a dinner, a church and a pub. There were a few wizarding shops that the muggles couldn't see, which made the town a bit more alluring.

I could honestly see why Harry wanted to live here, it was quiet and people were respectful. There had only been one wizard how talked to us for a minute, just to thank Harry but besides that the wizarding community here was calm and friendly. Most of them just said a friendly hello and smiled at us as we passed.

"Gin?"

I looked up at him and sighed.

"It's alright." I said as I was very disappointed by the town. I had a hard time holding a straight face as his face fell. "I mean, I can understand why you want to live here. The people are friendly, the town is beautiful, there is a real community feel and there is a big statue of you in the middle of it."

Harry groaned loudly before his fingers attacked my sides again.

"Can't you be serious! Ginny. Honestly what has gotten into you!" He complained.

"Harry, stop!" I squealed and he straddled me and continued to tickle me. "Please, stop."

"Are you going to give a serious answer than?" He asked as he found that spot I couldn't handle and I screamed loudly.

"Harry please! Stop."

"Promise me a serious answer first."

"I will!"

He laughed and stopped tickling. "Now, tell me what you think of this town?"

I took a minute to catch my breath and stop giggling. I sat myself up against Harry and looked towards the street.

"It's honestly beautiful, Harry. I can see us living here just as easy as we do in the Summer house."

"Really?"

"Yes. I was afraid that every wizard would harass us here but it's really nice. People recognize you but somehow it's like they already are used to having you around. Maybe it's because they are used to having the greatest of wizards and witches living here."

"Okay, that's enough flattering." Harry complained quickly. "Still, I'm really happy you like it. This place feels like home so much."

I smiled and got up. My jeans were green with grass stains and there was a lot of dust on me. I took a moment to look around at the house and the front garden. There was a lot of rubble, remains of old toys were littered around the grass. Besides for the sign there was nothing that indicated anyone had been there after Lily and James had died.

The front garden would need redoing, the top half of the building had to be restored and there was probably a lot of damage and wear on the inside but all in all from the outside it looked like a really nice house.

I turned around to look down the street, it wasn't located in the main area of the town but a bit to the north. Farthest away from the main road in. I could smell one of the restaurants getting ready for dinner. On both sides and in front there were neighbors. I was pretty sure that the house across the street was inhabited by a magical family.

I felt Harry grabbing my hand and pull me close. I noticed somebody was approaching the house.

"Mister Potter?" The man asked as he looked at us.

"Yes, sir."

"I'm Ben Gill, the project manager for the renovation."

"Oh." Harry sighed and quickly moved forward. I was surprised to see that it was a wizard that Harry had asked to rebuild the house. I had expected him to go for a muggle company as the house was originally build by muggles.

It was been centuries ago since the Potter's build this house but back than all wizarding homes would have been build by muggles and later made bigger or more grand by magic. I was sure the Summer House was the same but I had yet to find records of the build.

"Hello sir, I'm Harry and this is Ginny."

"Good afternoon. I hope you two have had a good afternoon in Godric's little town already?"

"We have. I have been convincing Ginny that this is the place for us to live in." Harry said as we shook hands with the rather fat wizard. It was a small man but severely overweight. He looked really friendly and not fake like so many people who claim to help us.

"I saw that, I actually live across the street with my wife and three children. I saw the two of you arriving but it looked like you weren't ready for company yet, so I waited a while and had some tea."

"Really? You live across the street?" I asked surprised.

"Yes. My family has been living across the Potter ever since the Potter house was build. I was fourteen when that happened." Ben pointed to the gaping whole in the roof.

I noticed Harry looked very surprised.

"How come I don't know any of your children?" Harry asked. Making the mental calculation the children this man mentioned could have been in the first few years of Hogwarts.

"That's very easy. We started having kids late in wizarding terms, they are all under the age of six still. The oldest will turn six next month. They are the main reason why I really wanted this job. I'm sure I did seem very eager in my letters but it's a really good opportunity to work so close to home and be with my kids a bit more."

I think we were both a bit dazed by this information. To have a friendly wizarding family live so close by, to see how kids could grow up in this town… I realized that it would be awesome to have neighbors with young kids when we would live here, when Teddy would visit he would have friends to play with.

"Shall we have a look around and at the plans?" Ben asked.

"Yes, oh, sorry but I think we are both a bit surprised by the things you told us." Harry said.

"Why?"

"Well, I want to move here so we have neighbors and maybe when we are older to have kids playing with kids from the neighborhood. To live in a real community but to really be confronted with it… well, it's a bit surprising."

"Godric's Hollow has always been like that, no matter who you are if you aren't a dark wizard you are welcome here." The man shrugged and turned to the house.

Harry and I took a moment to glance at each other, both wondering if this was for real. Harry shrugged and smiled at me before turning to the builder to go over the plans.

"Do you want to restore it like it was?"

"Uhm, yes. I don't know how much magic had been used to make the house what it was when my parents lived here but I found blue prints and I really like the lay-out and all." Harry explained quickly.

"I can look up the records of what has been added magically. Back then wizards were obliged to make records of all the work they magically added to houses. It was the keep them in check so they didn't over do it and make muggles suspicious. It won't do to have a small two bedroom apartment and add rooms magically so that you can live there with a very large family, muggles would notice that." Ben Gill explained. "It's won't be hard to redo all that. The construction of the building probably has been damaged with the blast so it might take a while to fix all that. Have you ever been inside?"

"No, I wasn't sure it was safe." Harry admitted.

"The building is magically secured it won't collapse on us."

Trusting the builders word we entered the building. As we entered the hall Harry grabbed my hand and squeezed it softly. I looked up to see that he was quite emotional. His green eyes were shimmering with unshed tears.

"Mr. Gill. Could we please have a few minutes of privacy? Neither of us has ever been here since…" I trailed off.

"Of course. I'll wait at home call me when you are done."

I watched him leave before turning to a grateful looking Harry.

"I should have thought of this before." He whispered.

"I didn't either. We will just go slow."

Harry squeezed my hand again and looked around the hallway. It was clear that seventeen years neglect wasn't doing much good to the building but thanks to magic the important bits were persevered really well.

The colors were the same as in the other houses, light and happy. A mirror still intact hung on the wall in the hallway. Coats that ones longed to Lily or James still hung under the stairs. They were an eerie symbol of the past.

As we entered the living room we saw that most of the furniture had survived the years. The whole room looked warm and welcoming. Just as they had done in the other houses. The paintings on the wall needed to be cleaned but they were still beautiful. It was like seeing the whole Potter family lined up. Some of them smiled and waved at us others were too dusty to see us.

On the mantel a large collection of pictures were standing. It was a mix of muggle and wizards pictures, all of them showing at least one of Harry's parents, either with friends or with baby Harry. They were all looking so lovingly.

The room was bigger than that was physically possible based on the outside of the building, it had been made bigger by magic and the charms still worked really well. It wasn't as grand as I expected the Potter family home to be but everything looked reasonable. Humbleness seemed to be a Potter trait.

Harry stared at a pointed between the living room and the front door, his face hard and tears rolling from his eyes.

"What is it, love?" I asked him.

"That's where my dad died." He whispered.

I looked at the bit of floor he was pointing at, there was nothing that indicated that a murder had been committed there. There was only dust on the light wooden floor. I wondered how he knew it but I wouldn't ask. I was sure he would tell me when he was ready for it.

"He died protecting my mum and me, hoping to fight off Tom." Harry said slowly. "My mom took me and ran upstairs. I don't know why she didn't ran out the back and apparated but I'm sure she had a good reason."

"Probably, maybe she was just scared and didn't think clearly, or maybe she thought Death Eaters would be waiting outside."

"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Harry asked.

"No, all that matters is that they did everything they could to protect you. They loved you. These pictures with you in it made that very clear." I pointed at the pictures of them on the mantel.

We walked through the living room into a large kitchen. A massive old wooden table was standing against the wall, it was surrounded by six chairs. A candle still set on it. It looked so perfect, I could almost imagine James, Lily, Sirius and Remus sitting around the table, chatting happily while watching Harry play but I almost immediately remembered that with the Potter's in hiding behind a Fidelius charm Remus and Sirius weren't like to visit them much after Harry was born.

Two large glass doors opened onto a patio with behind it a large garden.

"This house is just was beautiful set as the others." I breathed.

"This is absolutely perfect." Harry said a bit shaky. "Shall we look upstairs?"

"Do you want to?"

Harry looked at the stairs that were visible from the kitchen. Beyond that lay a world of hurt for him and he knew it.

"Yeah, lets get this over with." He sighed.

I nodded and followed him up the stairs. I held onto his hand and slowly felt him starting to quiver.

As we climbed the stairs I wondered what must have been going through Lily's mind when she went upstairs. Was she trying to hide, to escape or was it blind panic that had her running upstairs.

Up on the landing were a large numbers of doors, guest bedrooms, study, master suite and nursery. Harry immediately walked towards the nursery. A name plate on the door said 'Harry', it was heartbreakingly sweet to see that small sign which was decorated with small snitches.

Slowly Harry opened the door and light flooded in, this part of the house had been completely destroyed by the blast. There was a gaping hole that covered the nursery, the master bed room and a part of a what must have been a beautiful on-suite bathroom.

The nursery was completely destroyed. There wasn't even a crib left, only some pieces of white painted wood. In the corner closest to the door was laying the remains of a child's broom. Everything was torn to pieces.

"She defended me here." Harry whispered. "she stood in front of the crib, pleading with him. He offered to let her survive, for Severus Snape, I don't think she even considered that option."

Harry cried softly as he looked around the room. There wasn't much else that I could do but hold him and wait for him to deal with his grief.

It took Harry a long time to deal with it all. After a while he sank through his knees and kneeled down to cry even more. I heard him whisper words but it was too soft to hear what he said. His whimpered and moans revealed the pain he was going through and I felt utterly helpless.

I sank down next to him and gently rocked him back and forth, hoping to ease his mind a bit.

"Why did she do it, Ginny?" Harry whimpered.

"Because she loved you, Harry. She wanted nothing more than for you to have a life." I whispered.

"I'm not worth such a sacrifice."

"Of course you are." I yelped. "Harry, you are worth every life that has been given for you. You father, your mother and Sirius, they all died because they loved you enough to sacrifice their lives for you."

"Is it really all worth it, Ginny? I don't see why my life should be worth that."

"Because you bring happiness to our world. Because of you, our world, the world they loved and fought for can exist in happiness."

"It still doesn't make sense to me. Why would the life of my mother, a witch, so smart, beautiful and kind be worth less than mine, why would she willingly give up everything she had for me."

"I don't know, Harry. Maybe time will tell."

I let him cry for a long time, it was hard to fight my own tears but I felt the need to stay strong for Harry. He would feel bad if he saw me cry and forget about taking the time to deal with the pain this place brought.

Fifteen minutes later Harry suddenly stopped crying and looked at me.

"Crying isn't going to change anything but it does make me feel better." He whispered.

"This is a sad place, Harry. This place will always be that, are you sure you want to live here?" I asked again.

Harry looked around and seriously considered my question.

"Yes." He whispered. "I want to live here, build happy memories and hopefully live the family life my parents never got the chance to live."

Harry and I left the house in search for Ben Gill. The house across the street where he said he lived looked very friendly. It was an old small cottage, with wooden shutters and a small front garden. The wards that surrounded the house against intruders felt friendly and let us through. After a deep steadying breath Harry knocked on the door.

"Mister Potter!" A friendly looking tall woman said as she opened the door. "Come in, come, Ben told me what you were doing, I made you some strong tea. I though you might need it."

"Oh, well…" Harry stammered.

"There is no need to be shy. Come on in." the woman waved happily as she opened the door further.

"Thank you, Mrs. Gill." Harry said softly.

"Oh, please, call me Epheny. Mrs. Gill makes me sound so old."

The woman lead us into a small but welcoming home. Magic was present everywhere and was done very subtle.

"Ah, Mister Potter, I hope you are well." Ben Gill said as he saw us walking in.

"Yes, thank you for giving us a moment. We should have done that before you arrived."

"It's no problem Mister Potter. I expected this rebuild to be an emotional one, for all of us."

"It is, and please just call me Harry. I don't like the sound of Mister Potter that much."

"You must be Ginevra Weasley?" the woman asked.

"It's just Ginny, madam." I answered as I shook her hand.

After insisting on being called Epheny she went to get us tea and scones she had baked.

"Where are your children?" Harry asked as he sat down next to Ben.

"The youngest is sleeping, the other two are at school."

"School?" I asked surprised.

"Yes." He chuckled. "I take it you were home schooled?"

"Yes, mom didn't thought it was save to have so many wizarding children at a muggle school."

"And it is." Epheny said as she handed us a large mug of steaming tea. "here in Godric's Hollow there is on primary school, the head and two of the teachers are magical, they take care of any accidents involving the young wizards and witches but besides that it's a normal muggle school."

"This town is completely adapted to the needs of the magical community as well as the muggle community. We work hard to live in peace with each other." Ben explained.

"Are there any flaws in this town?" I asked. It all sounded to good to be true. I mean what wizard wouldn't want to raise his family in this town.

"Oh there are but not many and not often. Death Eater came here as well. We did what we had to do to protect the town and every now and than you have fights between people but most of them are solved easily. Maybe the major flaw of this town is it's name, every kid who has grown up here feels the pressure of being a great wizard or witch, it's expected from those who live here. Even when it's isn't realistic." Ben said thoughtfully. "the only person I knew who could deal with it was James. He grew up here but he never felt the pressure, he just was an exceptional wizard."

"I remember my mom talking with Mrs. Potter shortly before they got killed. Mrs. Potter said that she wished James had a more difficult time at school so he would learn to appreciate working for something." Ben said after a few seconds of silence. It was like he tried to remember things that he hadn't thought about in a long time.

For a while I listened to Harry asking all kinds of questions first about his father and what Ben remembered of his grandparents, later it was about the town and the people living in it. Ben seemed to know a lot of history and a lot about the families living here. Harry asked questions about the Dumbledore's and about the Pervernell brothers.

"I saw you were going to play professional Quidditch." Epheny commented softly.

"Oh, yes. In two days I leave for a week long training."

"It should be exciting."

"It is. I never realized how much I enjoy playing Quidditch but with the Harpies it's so much fun."

"I wanted to play professional are well, at school I was a good beater, because of my length I had a lot of extra strength and my aim was good."

"Why didn't you?"

"I got severely injured in my last match at school. I have never been able to play as well as I did before."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, if I hadn't had that injury I would have never found my true calling."

"Which is?"

"Charms. I work as an unspeakable at the ministry, my expertise is charms and the invention of them."

"Did you work during his reign?" I asked carefully.

"Good Merlin, no. I can honestly say, no matter how much I love my job I was happy I was on maternity leave during those months. After the battle and Harry won, my boss who had always been on the good side asked me to come back. He understood why I stayed away longer."

I nodded and took a sip from my tea. I honestly had forgotten all about those who worked at the ministry that weren't supporting Voldemort. I never thought about how hard it must have been for them to do their job. I only ever considered my dad's struggles, I appointed is terrible issues there to the connection he had with Harry, in my eyes during those days all the other employees were on the wrong side.

"Enough about the bad stuff." Epheny said brightly, "How has your day in Godric's little town been?"

"Good. Harry as been trying to convince me that Godric's Hollow would be a really nice place to live."

"But you aren't convinced?" she asked calmly.

"I don't know." I sighed. "I mean, it's a lovely town, from what you and your husband are telling us it's an ideal place to live and raise children but nothing is ever really ideal."

"What is holding you back than? What are you afraid of finding here that you haven't where you live now?"

I thought about that for a second, it were the questions I have been asking myself. Maybe it would be easier to answer them to somebody else, maybe Epheny could give me some real insight.

"At the moment we are living in the Potter's Summer house. It's located in a very rural setting, no neighbors, no traffic, no muggles, just peace and quite. It's a place where we can hide from all the attention. I'm afraid that we would never find that peace living here, it's a famous town, a lot of wizards and witches are living here and coming to visit this place. I'm afraid that we could never really be a part of the community here because of all the attention the wizarding world is giving us."

"So you just want to hide and remove yourself from the world you belong in."

"It's wrong, isn't it."

"Yes, and no. Ginny, I can totally understand why you would hide. The Prophet hasn't been very nice to you and Harry in the past, that gossiping Skeeter woman hasn't written a nice word about the two of you since the war and people would always look at Harry as some sort of god but you are talking about moving to Godric's Hollow."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

Epheny laughed loudly. Her voice was bell like and happy.

"This is Godric's Hollow, don't you think people here aren't used to living with famous and powerful witches and wizards?" she chuckled. "During the past centuries famous wizards like, Godric himself, Merlin, Dumbledore, the Pervernell brothers and Bathilda have all lived here and there are many more. People here are used to the power that lives here and treat everybody like equals. We watch out for each other, make sure that nobody gets bothered by an other."

"It all sounds to good to be true." I sighed.

"You'll see it isn't."

"Godric Gryffindor made this a very nice place." Epheny said with a smile.

I stayed with Epheny while Harry and Ben went over the drawings and the rebuilding program. Epheny was a very nice and smart woman. We talked a bit about her work. Nothing specific of course but more about her fascination with charms and the theory that went with it. I couldn't completely understand it, I always saw charms as a bit of a soft subject but with having Harry as your boyfriend your couldn't help but getting interested in the healing charms and Epheny did know a lot about it.

"Ginny!" Harry called after an other hour. "We need to go or we won't make it in time for our reservation at the restaurant."

"I'm sorry Epheny, it's Harry's birthday and he made plan." I excused myself.

"Oh, goodness, if I had know that I would have offered you some cake."

"That's not necessary. Harry and I wanted to celebrate it quietly. My mom is insisting on making a cake when we give a party." I told her quickly.

Epheny was still ashamed on not knowing about Harry's birthday and she made it up by giving Harry a surprise big birthday hug.

After a while we said goodbye to the Gill family and headed towards the restaurant.

Harry had made reservations at a muggle restaurant in London for us. All I knew about it was that it was supposed to be good and very romantic.

"Are you having a good birthday?" I asked Harry as we walked towards the restaurant. To our left was the Big Ben telling us loudly that it was half past seven. Harry had shown me a bit more of muggle London before going to the restaurant. He showed me Hyde park and a strange art exhibition that was shown there. There were all these statues littered over the park. Some were nice but most I really didn't like.

After that he took me on side-along apparition to the Queen's castle. It was beautiful and I fell in love with it but Harry claimed it was a bit too grand for him to live in. Sadly I had to agree, the Summer house was grand enough already.

"Yes, it's nice to do something fun and not being ignored nor over celebrated." Harry answered.

"I still don't understand why I wasn't allowed to buy you a present." I grumbled.

"Because I have everything I want." Harry shrugged. "What could I have asked?"

"Oh, I don't know."

"Did you had something in mind for me?"

"No, not really." I admitted. "But I would have spend some time searching for something good."

"You don't need to. I'd rather have a day like this with you for my birthday." Harry said as he pulled me towards the restaurant.

It was indeed a very romantic setting. The restaurant was located directly insight of the Big Ben and it had a balcony from which you could see the towering clock. We were seated in the best and most secluded area of the balcony, which had the best view.

The menu was very complicated. I didn't know much about muggle food, Harry had to explain a lot. According to him it was all Italian, so the only thing from the menu I knew were the small pizza's they offered as a starter.

We both ordered a started and a main course. For me that meant a melon with Italian ham as a started and a Lasagna as the main course. Both I had chosen after asking advise from the waiter. I had asked him what there specialties were and he advise for a first time to an Italian restaurant we should take it easy and go for the more general things.

The food was really, really, really good. It was gone before I felt that I had even started to eat. When Harry told me that Lasagna would be on Gwen's approved food list I decided to ask Drooble if he would mind cooking muggle dishes every now and than.

"What time will Teddy arrive tomorrow?" I asked Harry when we were eating desert.

"Andromeda said she would drop him off around ten. Her day out with Mrs. Longbottom starts at eleven but she wanted a bit of time so she could get ready."

"So it will be a day out in the park tomorrow?"

"If you don't mind. I want Teddy to grow up comfortable between muggles as well as magical people. I thought a day in a play ground and park could be nice. Drooble will make a picnic basket."

"Do you think it's wise to take Teddy to a muggle area, he changes his hair color all the time. I don't think muggles won't notice that."

"I'm thinking on placing a glamour charm on him so that the muggle will see only one color." Harry mused.

"If you can make it a strong one it might work but if Teddy is very powerful he could break through it easily."

"We'll see, if it doesn't work at home we will have to think of something else to do."

"The weather will be nice, I'm sure it will be a nice day tomorrow. If we are going to the park we should get some muggle money so we can by him an ice cream and muggle toys." I mused.

"I have already enough muggle money for tonight and tomorrow. Don't worry about it. Though Meda won't be happy if you spoiled him too much."

"I'm his aunt, of course I can spoil him rotten." I laughed.

Harry laughed with me. "Alright I'll give you that but not too much. We don't want to create a monster."


	49. Teddy's day out

_**I'm sorry I took so long... I had written it complately in Ginny's pov and it just didn't work... So I deleted it and started from Harry's POV...**_

_**I hope you enjoy it... **_

* * *

**HPOV**

**49. A day out.**

_Fuck!_ I cursed silently as I read the front page of the Prophet. A horrid picture of very badly treated people in a prison covered a large part of the page. The headline above said '_the __never __ending __horror_'. I quickly read the story below.

_On __Friday __evening __around __nine, __ministry __officials __charged __with __the __search __for __the __lost __witches __and __wizard __of __the __war, __found __a __deserted __island __just __north __of __Scotland __filled __with __banned __witches __and __wizards. __All __of __them __are __muggle __borns, __they __have __been __banned __and __their __wands __have __been __snapped __by __the __former __ministry. __The __conditions __they __were __send __to __live __in __are __horrifying, __there __wasn__'__t __much __food __and __people __were __forced __to __do __horrible __hard __jobs. __It __reminded __many __muggle __borns __of __the __camps __during __the __muggle __second __world __war. __People __were __in __very __bad __condition, __malnourished __and __all __needed __attention __from __the __St. __Mungo__'__s __medical __staff. __On __the __island __3 __alleged __Death __Eaters __were __who __were __responsible __for __punishment __on __the __island __were __arrests. __The __ministry __official __claim __these __men __were __interviewed __by __the __auror __office __and __provided __vital __information __on __the __whereabouts __of __searched __Death __Eaters. __For __further __information __on __the __island __and __the __prisoners, __see __page __3, __for __further __information __about __the __hunt __for __the __culprit __of __this __horror, __see __page __4_.

That idiotic, fucking, annoying, fat pink bow tied toad! That hag had send all those people there. I was ready to rip the pages to shreds when I heard Gin walking out on the deck.

As I didn't want anything to mess up our last happy day before the real life started I quickly turned to page four to see what the Prophet thought about the person responsible for this madness. Tomorrow Ginny would leave for her first big training camp and I would start at the ministry at eight, our life as grown-ups would start. We had a nice day out planned and news like this would influence us both and could ruin the day.

"Andromeda and Teddy have just arrived." Ginny announced as she sat down at the breakfast table.

"Hmmm…" I murmured in acknowledgement, I had just found the article I was looking for and was somehow relieved that the Prophet was pointing finger in the same direction as I did. There was a small statement from the ministry in the article but it was very minimalistic, something along the lines of '_We __have __an __idea __but __we __are __not __going __to __say __any thing_'. I wasn't a big pro on keeping things silent but the whole world knew who we were looking for, so it wasn't needed to speak openly about it.

"Harry?" Ginny said quite loudly.

"Yes, love." I said as I looked up from the paper.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"About what?" I asked confused.

"Andromeda and Teddy have arrive, Drooble is meeting them at the gate."

"Oh, really… I'm sorry I was distracted."

"You say… what's it about?" She asked with a frown to the paper in my hand. I wondered if I should tell her, I didn't want her to get upset about it but on the other hand if I didn't tell her and somebody else would I would be in deep trouble.

I sighed and handed her the paper.

"Here have a look." I whispered.

I watched her face as she looked at the picture. Her beautiful deep bruin eyes widened and than glared with ice at the page. A cat like hiss past her lips and she was about the swear out loud when we heard the bubbly laughter of my godson.

Ginny quickly put the paper down and rearranged her face into a smile. Only her eyes still showed her anger.

"Harry! Ginny!" Andromeda greeted us happily. Teddy was sitting on her arm and waved at us. The little man was getting quite smart.

"Hello." I said back with a smile. Ginny got up and picked up Teddy from Meda's arms.

"Hey, little man, ready for a day in the park?" She asked happily.

"Des…" He said. Both Ginny and I looked up in surprise. We had heard him making sounds and trying to say small things but he had never answered a question before. I guessed he was still too young to speak words or understand and answer questions.

"Oh yes, that…" Meda said with a sigh. "Hermione came over yesterday. She brought some muggle kids books she thought Teddy would like. She stayed for tea and tried to get Teddy to talk, she got as far as teaching him to say something close to yes and what it means."

"That's very good." Ginny said.

"Yeah, I thought so too, until he started to be like his mother and didn't shut up. It's yes, yes, yes and yes, all the time." Andromeda sighed.

"We will teach him some other words." Ginny said with a smile.

"Isn't he a little too young to talk?" I asked a bit confused.

"Yeah, well I know Dora was a quick talker and I'm sure with Remus's intelligence he was too, so I'm not really surprised." Andromeda answered with shrug. Though she was a bit blasé about it I could clearly hear the pain in het voice as she spoke of her daughter and son in law. I couldn't help but flinch against the pain that ran through me, it was like a mantra '_my__fault_'.

Drooble served tea and sandwiches for breakfast and offered some fruit for Teddy.

"Master Harry, I have a picnic basket ready for you." Drooble said when he finished serving.

"Thank you, Drooble."

The elf nodded and disappeared.

"Have you read the Prophet this morning Harry?"Meda asked.

I took a sip of my tea and nodded. I didn't wanted to talk about it too much. Somehow, I felt responsible for the pain of those people. I know it would probably sound silly but I should have cursed that toad into oblivion when I had the chance at the ministry. I should have cursed her so badly that she wouldn't have been able to carry on her horrid work.

"Horrible isn't it. I hope they catch the one responsible for it." Meda sighed.

"I'm making it my personal target as off tomorrow." I growled.

"Does Arn or Kingsley have an idea who is responsible for this?"

"Yes, we all know who was responsible for the deportation, exclusion and punishment of muggle borns. The hag won't escape hers." I said severely.

"Let's not talk about this now. We have a fun day planned." Ginny said brightly. I wanted to snap at her for being so cheery when we were discussing these horrible things but her eyes were focused on Teddy. He was watching us, his mousy brown hair told us he was unsure and almost scared. His lower lip was quivering.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and nodded.

"Yes, you're right Ginny. This is not a discussion for now."

Andromeda caught on and distracted Teddy with some food until his hair was bright blue again. I thought that blue was his current choice of fashion but Meda explained that he couldn't choose. He was too young to have control over it, at the moment his moods still effected the color.

"He will need to understand that it isn't normal first. Than he has to learn how he can change his appearance consciously. It's more difficult than Dora made it seem. She was a natural at all new things but even she had a hard time learning how to change her appearance like that."

"I never knew." Ginny breathed sadly. "she always was so easy about it. She never mentioned that it was difficult."

"By the time you met her it wasn't but believe me a lot of things were destroyed in her tantrums when things didn't work for her." Meda chuckled at the memories.

I couldn't help but feeling that wave of guilt running through me again. I had lost my parents, friends and even a brother like Fred but I couldn't even begin to understand how it would be to loose your only child, son-in-law and husband in one go. And it was all because of me, or at least partly because of me. Tonks died defending me.

I heard a small Ginny like voice was telling me that it wasn't true but I couldn't help but feel that way. It was always my fault.

"What are you going to do about his hair today? I understand you want to take him to a muggle park?" Andromeda asked a few seconds later.

"Yes." I said quickly as I pulled my focus back to Teddy and Andromeda. "I was thinking that a strong glamour will work. If not we have to think of something else to do."

"Yes, I did that with Dora as well. Glamour charms always do the trick." Andromeda nodded. "this little man will love the park."

I nodded and took Teddy from Ginny's arms as she got up to lead Andromeda back to the gate.

"At what time will you be back?" Ginny asked when Andromeda got up to leave.

"After dinner. We have made reservations at our favorite restaurant. Is that too much trouble?"

"Oh, no. Don't worry. If Teddy gets tired we will put him in bed here." Ginny said with a smile.

Andromeda nodded and left with a pop.

We stood there for a few seconds staring at the place where she left. It wasn't until he moved that I remembered having Teddy in my arms.

"Well, Drooble got everything ready. We might as well leave now and enjoy the full day." I suggested.

"Yes." Ginny said happily and smiled as she turned towards the house.

I really had been looking forward to today. Yesterday, Ginny and I had an awesome day in Godric's Hollow but it was an emotional day, I never thought that entering my parents house would do so much to me but it was like being pulled back into Tom's memories. The horror images of how he killed my parents flowed freely. I should have known that it would happen there.

Still, Ginny and I had fun, we met some really nice people and my conviction that Godric's Hollow was a good place to live was confirmed.

Today was going to be even more fun. Though I wasn't foolish enough to not expect any emotional weight on this day. Going out with Teddy always held some sort of heavy emotion but at least the weather was nice and the park would be filled with new things to show Teddy.

"What do you think Teddy. Shall we do the glamour now?" I asked him as I sat him down on the deck.

"Des!" the boy clapped happily.

I drew my wand and said the words. The small boy shivered as the spell changes his hair. It turned in ink black, like mine. I hadn't done that on purpose but as I saw it I realized that it would make it a lot easier to explain to anyone who would ask that this boy was mine.

"Black?" Ginny asked surprised as she came walking out with the basket. Her voice sounded playful.

"Yeah, beautiful isn't it." I said with a grin.

"It looks good on Teddy, yes but I'm sure our kids will be redheads. Your mom was a redhead, as is my whole family so don't get too used to it." She kissed my cheek quickly and walked towards the gate without looking back.

"Come on Teddy, or your aunt Ginny will leave without us." I said as I picked him up and I hurried after Gin. Just beyond the gate she turned to me with the most dazzling smile and apparated away.

"Gin!" Teddy squealed as she disappeared. I was so shocked to hear him say her name that for a second I forgot what I was to take Teddy to the park. I just stopped and stared at the toddler in my arms.

"Gin! Gin! Gin!" He continued to squeal, pointing at the spot where she had disappeared.

I took a moment to regain my thoughts and smiled at Teddy.

"Yes, lets go find, Ginny." I said and grabbed the boy firmly in my arms, closed my eyes and focused on the apparating spot in Diagon Alley.

I was a bit nervous taking Teddy along. I wasn't sure if it was wise to apparate with him when he was starting to create a will of his own but Andromeda promised me that it would be fine. She explained that it was my magic that pulled him along, so as long as I stayed focused it would be alright.

"Gin!" Teddy squealed again only a moment my feet hit the floor.

"Oh my god! Harry! Did you hear that?" Ginny yelped. I hadn't even been able to catch a breath when her arms wrapped around us. "Harry, he said my name. Isn't that awesome!"

I took a deep breath and looked down at the excited woman that pressed herself against me and Teddy.

"He was squealing your name the moment you left." I told her.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. What else did you expect you are after all his favorite aunt."

"Yeah, the rest is dead or crazy!" she snorted. Her comment placed to Bellatrix and Narcissa. Though I agreed on the dead and crazy part, it still felt like a raw blow. I didn't want to be reminded about Bellatrix. It brought back sound on a screaming Hermione.

I tried to hide my reaction to her words by quickly changing the subject.

"Shall we go?" I asked.

"Yes."

Ginny and I took Teddy through Diagon alley towards the Leaky Cauldron. It was busy. I wondered if the Hogwarts letters had already arrived because there were a lot of kids around. Teddy clearly enjoyed himself as he was looking around him at all the witches and wizards bustling around. Though, it was sunny and warm many people looked upset, it wasn't hard to guess why. The news of this morning had clearly reached Diagon Alley.

"George and Ange will be doing good business today." Ginny commented as she pointed at the store at the end of the street. There was a long row in front of the shop.

"Ron and Hermione will be there to help them out." I said.

"Yeah, maybe we should go and see them later."

"If it isn't too busy. I don't feel up for every kid looking at me." I sighed.

Ginny lifted an eyebrow in question and shook her head. She understood to certain extend my hatred of being in large crowds but I don't think she will ever understand the way I feel when people point at me, look at me or whisper behind my back. It made me physically sick. I always was waiting for the moment that once again people would turn against me, hate me for thing I would never do, or worse admire me for something I hadn't done. I don't know if I will ever get used to it.

We slowly walked through the Leaky Cauldron and out to the muggle London. In the Leaky Cauldron everybody was bend over the Prophet, softly muttering in disgust. I couldn't blame them, it was disgusting to think of all those people on that island.

Muggle London was completely different, where in my world everybody was obvious shocked by the latest news, the muggles only cared for the sun and how to get a tan as soon as possible. The women and girls were flaunting in thin summer dresses and the men were all wearing shorts and t-shirts. It was warm and cheery.

I heard Ginny taking in a deep breath and sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Absolutely nothing." She said with a happy smile. "It's just so nice to see happy people."

I nodded, I totally got what she said, seeing the muggle world so happy with the summer was infectious. I just couldn't help but smile.

With Teddy in Ginny's arms and me carrying the basket we made our way to Hyde park. I choose to go to Hyde park because there would be a lot of people. We wouldn't stand out there and Teddy could see enough muggles and new things to spark his interests.

"Here lets sit down under the trees. The sun will be too warm for Teddy." Ginny said as she pointed out a group of trees a bit off the path.

"Okay." I nodded. I looked around and saw that slowly it was getting busy in the park. People would worship the sun in nothing but a few pieces of clothing. Kids were playing in the playground close by and there was a dog park where people were having fun with their dogs. Tourists were taking pictures. It was a really nice and active place to sit down.

I spread out a blanket and placed the basket next to the tree so that it was fully in the shade. I knew Drooble would have magically preserved the food but it would look strange if it stood in the sun all day.

Soon Teddy and Ginny were off, Ginny lay down with Teddy in the grass and played with him. Ginny looked so beautiful as she played with Teddy. Her slim but curvy figure danced in the sunlight, it was beautiful. I had fallen in love with her fiery eyes and character but her body held me equally focused. I just sat there and enjoyed the view.

Ginny showed Teddy around, pointing to the dogs and to people that were playing around. When a ice-cream van stopped close by she bought us all ice-cream. Which, naturally, Teddy made a mess of.

It was an understatement to say that Teddy loved the park. After a few minutes of carefully watching around him and the playful distraction by Ginny, he started to enjoy all the sights and people around him. He laughed loudly and pointed happily to new things he saw.

Somehow dogs were just drawn to him. Many of the people walking their dogs had a hard time getting them away from him.

The first time it scared the living daylights out of me and Ginny.

There was this big dog, I don't even know what kind of dog it was but it was massive. The owner let the dog loose and it made one straight line for Teddy who was just trying to standup on grass. The dog ran so fast towards Teddy that I couldn't even react and Ginny just screamed.

But when it reached Teddy it skidded to a halt just in time to prevent a collision, the dog barked happily as it danced around Teddy.

I was afraid that it would scare the little man but Teddy was clapping in his hands and squealing happily. When he finally lost his balance in the grass and fell on his back the dog licked in his face and the boy was still laughing and squealing.

I made my way towards them before the playing got too roughly. By the time I reached for the dog the owner was running towards us in full panic.

"Benno! Benno! Here! Come here!" the woman screamed. I guessed the dog was named Benno but it didn't listen. I quickly grabbed its leash and pulled him off the still laughing Teddy. Ginny quickly grabbed Teddy and took him high up in her arms.

"Gin! Dog!" the boy squealed as he pointed to the large dog that was still trying to play with him.

"Yes, Teddy, that's a dog." Ginny said with a relieved sigh.

"Benno sit!" The woman growled again. This time the dog listened and stop struggling against my hold. I let him go and the dog sat down. "oh I'm so sorry." The woman said as she finally reached us. "Is your son alright? Benno loves kids but he has never done that before."

I was a bit confused by her words but quickly recovered by realizing that she thought Teddy was our son.

"Oh, I think he is alright." I said. I could hear my own voice quivering, apparently I was more shaken than I thought.

"I'm really sorry. Benno normally listens really well." The woman said again.

"It's okay. I'm just happy Teddy didn't got scared of dogs. It appears he had just as much fun as the dog." Ginny said after she checked over Teddy for injuries.

"It's the first time he is out in a park with dogs." I explained.

"Oh really!" The woman groaned. "and my Benno would go and do something crazy to him like that."

"Honestly don't worry too much about it. Teddy seems to be okay." I said again. I didn't want the woman to feel bad about something that never really happened. It was scary for a few seconds but after that as long as Teddy was alright, everything was alright.

The woman left still saying she was sorry. Teddy was almost crying that the dog left, he was waving after the dog for a few minutes. We distracted him with food and toys we brought. It worked.

Though, these kind of encounters with dogs didn't stop with only one. During the late morning quite a few dogs came to visit Teddy, some played roughly but Teddy never seemed to care, he just sat in the grass clapping his hands and squealing loudly. Ginny and I stopped caring as well. He was happy, what more could we ask for.

"I wonder why dogs are so drawn to him." Ginny said as we watched him play happily with a small Labrador.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because of what Remus was…" I said.

"Yeah, maybe. We should tell Andromeda about this, maybe she can get a dog when Teddy is a bit older. I'm sure Teddy would love that."

"Or we take one."

"I'm not sure if that is a good idea. We both will be away a lot, we can't ask Drooble to take care of a dog. I'm not even sure a dog would listen to him."

After we had a large lunch Teddy took a nap, it left Ginny and me time to talk freely.

"It's a beautiful day." Ginny commented and she lay her head down in my lap. I was sitting against a tree next to where Teddy was sleeping.

I looked down at Ginny, small beams of sunlight glittered over her face and through her hair. She looked so beautiful. Her face was relaxed and a small smile played around her lips. I bent down to kiss her. It always made my blood sing when our lips met like that. It was a very addictive feeling and I was addicted badly.

"Yes, it is." I whispered against her lips.

"You have been very quiet most of the morning." She commented.

"I have. I'm sorry." I whispered.

"Is something wrong?" She asked. Her feisty eyes flashed open and grumbled every attempt to lie.

"Not wrong, love. I'm just thinking."

"You are thinking sad and dark things again, aren't you."

Was I? I didn't know for sure. Mostly I had been thinking about Teddy and his attraction to dogs. Also the news from this morning had been lingering in my mind. Yes, sad things.

"I… I was thinking about Teddy." I admitted.

"About Remus and Tonks?" Ginny asked carefully.

"Yes, some of it. More about Teddy's thing with dogs. I was thinking about how much he would have liked having Sirius playing with him. Sirius in his dog form was even greater than the man, I think, for kids I mean. He would have been a great uncle." I sighed sadly.

"Yeah, he probably would have been. What where you thinking about Remus and Tonks?"

She knew me so well. I had hoped to evade answering that by telling her my thoughts about Sirius. I looked down at her face, her eyes told me that she already knew what I had been thinking. Apparently the look on my face confirmed it. She reached up and her soft hand captured my face.

"Harry." She sighed. "You can't live on thinking like that."

"I know." I sighed. I glanced at Teddy before looking back to her. "I just can't help it. Every time I see Teddy… I just can't help but thinking that they should have been here, they should have been the ones taking him into the world, introducing him to new things. They should be the ones who would hear his first words, not me, not us. It isn't fair to him. It isn't how his life was supposed to be, Remus and Tonks should have stayed with him, I wanted them with him not defending me."

With a swift move Ginny got up and wrapped her arms around me. At first I thought she was angry with me for wallowing. Sometimes she get so angry with me for wallowing in what could have been. She would yell at me and tell me to stop living in the past and live now but it wasn't as easy as she claimed it to be.

To my relieve she wasn't angry, her eyes conveyed understanding and compassion.

"I know it isn't fair, Harry. I miss them too. Tonks and Remus would never mean to me what they did to you but still…, Remus was a kind and friendly man, a good teacher, Tonks was like an older sister I never had, I miss them both, especially when I see Teddy." She sighed sadly. "I can see it all, how Tonks would laugh when he did silly thing, how Remus would try to teach him new words and how to read. How they could have been a happy family." Her voice was sad, full of emotion. "It's just isn't given to them. All I can say that gives me comfort is that they died together and for a better world. They fought not for you, Harry but for all of us, for the a wizarding world in which Teddy could be what ever he wants to be. No restrictions and no judgment. A world in which we can be free."

"I can't even believe that." I sighed sadly. "I can't believe that they knowingly died for a better world. They shouldn't have died, the free world was close anyway. I would have done anything to accomplish that."

Her words weren't any comfort. If Remus and Tonks had survived they would still be able to live in this new free world. I would have finished Tom even without their sacrifice. I had fought so hard for it, together with Ron and Hermione. We fought for all those we love, to realize that we still lost anyone of them… I could never...

Even my thoughts blanked. To admit that we still lost them no matter what, was hard.

"You have to start to believe in something. If you can't believe my words than maybe you can believe that they will be with us anyway. As long as we love and remember them." Ginny whispered in my ear.

I shook my head at her and bit my lip against the onslaught of emotions. They were lost forever, only when I die would they return to me.

I looked over to where the little Teddy lay sleeping peacefully. He wasn't yet aware of what he had lost. He was a bit older than me when I lost my parents, I wondered if I was as happy as he is now after that. Did I realized what I had los?. Had I been able to grieve, can you even grieve when you are a bit more than a year old?

"Harry…" Ginny whispered carefully. "Stop thinking like that. I can see it… in your eyes… stop."

"I'm not… blaming … myself." I whispered. "I was thinking about Teddy, about how hard things would be for him when he realizes… I wondered if I ever really realized what I have lost when I was his age."

"You were one year old, Harry. A baby can't realize that." Ginny whispered.

"I feel so bad that Teddy has to relive my life, I feel so bad about what happened. I couldn't prevent it…" I half cried.

"It wasn't your job to prevent it. Stop feeling responsible for things you were never responsible for. Your only job was to find a way to finish Tom and you did, that's enough. Besides Teddy won't relive your life. He'll has us, Andromeda, Ron and Hermione, my mum and Minerva, we all will help him through the loss when he needs it. We can all tell him stories about his parents. He'll grow up protected, loved and cared for. We can never replace his parents but we can make him feel loved."

I sighed, she had told me this a dozen times of the last year, yet I had a hard time to deal with the truth of it.

Ginny kissed me softly. After a few seconds she pulled back and looked at me with concern.

"I don't know what else to do or say Harry." She whispered. "I don't know what I have to do to make it easier for you. To make all the pain go away. I would do anything if I could."

Her words cut deep into me, her emotions were woven through them and made my stomach turn. I felt sick that she felt the need to do anything to make _me_ feel better.

"You don't have to do anything, love." I softly told her.

"But I want to, I want to take all the pain away." She said stubbornly.

"You already do. If it weren't for you I would be lost in grief, your presence comforts me, it gives me something to live for."

"What about living for your own happiness?"

"Maybe that will come with time, for now I'm content with living for you."

Ginny sighed and shook her head.

"You really need to start to live your own life, Harry. Make your own decisions and find your own happiness. You can't be completely happy unless you find that."

"I want to live my life with you, I want you to make decisions with me. Watching life unfold around us will be my happiness." I said solemnly.

Before we could get any deeper into this disagreement Teddy started to wake up. He squirmed a bit before he opened his eyes.

"Hey little man." Ginny whispered as she sat up. The boy started smile and reach out for us. With a quick move he was sitting in Ginny's lap as she gently rocked him so he could awake slowly. Soon he was laughing and clapping happily in his hands. I wondered if there was ever a time that he wasn't laughing.

"Do you want something to eat?" I asked him as I reached into the basket. Drooble had packed smashed fruit for Teddy, the boy seemed to love Drooble's creations, he grabbed the cup from my hands as soon as it was in reach.

After Teddy ate, Ginny decided to take him to the playground and have him down some slides and one de swings. She was being the perfect aunt, spoiling him silly. I watched from a distance wishing I had brought a camera. The afternoon was just picture perfect at the playground.

"Shall we go back?" Ginny asked. After she played with Teddy for a long time in the playground she left him to play with a small Labrador pup on the grass next to our blanket. The two were so cute. Together with the owner of the dog, we enjoyed watching them. Teddy sat on the grass and threw a ball which the dog would bring back to him. It made him squeal in happiness and the pup bark silly.

"Yeah, if you still want to buy all kinds of bad things for Teddy and visit your brother…" I said with a cheeky smile.

"Hey, I'm not buying bad things for him!" Ginny squealed, hitting my shoulder playfully.

"Okay, okay, you can buy him toys." I laughed. "Why don't we let him pick things out that he can play with at the Summer House when he visits. We don't have much toys for him there."

"That's a brilliant idea." Ginny said with a smile. She jumped up and headed over to Teddy. "What do you think, little man, do you want to go and buy toys?"

"Des!" Teddy said. The puppy was completely forgotten as he reached for Ginny to lift him up.

"Say goodbye to your dog friend first." Ginny said.

_Gods, __she __was __going __to __be __the __perfect __mom_. I was sure of that as I watched her teaching Teddy how to say goodbye to the puppy. I was sure she would be strict for her own kids and not as spoiling but sure doting and caring. Teddy learned how to say goodbye to the dog before Ginny picked him up and carried him over to me.

"Ry! Ry!" He called he reached out for me.

"Oh, Harry, he is trying to say your name."

"Yeah, I heard." I laughed as I took Teddy from her. "I sure hope Meda won't be angry with us for encouraging him in it."

"Nah. It's awesome. Meda will be excited to hear about Teddy's day."

We said goodbye to the owner of the pup and walked towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"If Teddy get's any heavier we need to get a stroller. I can't carrying him around much longer." Ginny said. I had to admit she was right, Teddy was getting big and carrying him was becoming quite straining.

"Yeah." I sighed as I shifted him to my other arm. "Maybe he will be able to walk it all soon."

"I don't think so, it will be a while before he can walk everything." Ginny said, suddenly she gasped and turned to look at the other side of the street. "Oh, look Teddy, a chocolate shop."

Ginny picked Teddy out of my arms and crossed the street before I realized what she meant.

"Gin, no!" I yelled after her.

"Yes!" She laughed back.

I hurried after her but the damage was already done, Teddy was clapping in his hands and pointed towards the candy shop. "Ginny, he can't eat chocolate yet!" I yelled.

"Oh yes, he can. Chocolate melts, he can suck on it. If he is his father's son he'll love it."

Honestly there was no stopping Ginny when she got some idea. I ran after her into the shop. The scent of chocolate was overwhelming. I never had been a big fan of chocolate but Ginny was and Teddy probably as well. They both were like Ron on Christmas morning, which was much worse than any normal kid.

"Gin, please, be a bit reasonable. Teddy really can't eat chocolate yet."

"He can. Like I said he'll suck on it. Besides I love muggle chocolate and I want to take some home."

I sighed and shook my head in defeat. Ginny picked up a small shopping baskets and roamed the shelves. I followed her to make sure she didn't went too much overboard with this. I mean I love to indulge her with anything she wants but I really was thinking about Teddy's health. Ginny could buy for herself what ever she wanted, I would happily pay for it, as long as she was being reasonable about Teddy.

"Oh, look. Teddy, that's something for you." Ginny said happily as she pointed to chocolate covered cookies. There were the best in the shop that she could have picked for him because the weren't completely chocolate and he could indeed suck on it but as she continued to roam the shelves she found chocolate lollipops she wanted Teddy to try and more things I was sure Andromeda would never give him.

When she finally reached the cash register her basket was full with all sorts of stuff. She smiled up at me as she handed the basket over to the lady behind it.

"Don't worry, Harry, I've got something for you to enjoy as well." She whispered sultry just when I saw the lady scan a tube of chocolate bodypaint.

"Jeez, Gin.." I hissed at her but she just chuckled. Her eyes flashed at me and I knew that as soon as Teddy was back with Andromeda she would have her way with me and I wouldn't mind one bit.

I was happy that on our way to the Leaky Cauldron we didn't pass a muggle toys store or we would have never made it back to the magical world this afternoon.

"We have to stop at Magic Toys before going to George and Angelina. I want to buy Teddy a stuffed animal and stuff for at home." Ginny said as if she could read my thought.

It didn't take too much time to reach the shop. The shop was large but it was still stuffed with toys. Teddy was clearly enjoying himself and helped Ginny pick out all sorts of toys for him to play with at the Summer House. To top off the large pile with toys Ginny added a large stuffed animal in a dog form, it was big, black and had a shaggy fur, just like Sirius. Teddy was clearly taken with it as he wouldn't release it. I missed Sirius so much in that moment, he would have been so happy to see Teddy like that.

Suddenly an owl landed on my shoulder, I recognized it as Arn's work owl, small and fast. It had a letter addressed to me tied around his leg. The writing wasn't Arn's handwriting but Kingsley's.

"Ginny, I'm going to read this outside. When you are done just call Drooble and have him take it all back to the house."

"Okay, is it something important?" She asked as she pointed to the letter.

"I don't know, I'll tell you once I have read it."

She nodded as turned her attention back to Teddy. I quickly walked out and relieved the owl from it's burden.

"I'm sorry I don't have treats with me. I'll bring some for you tomorrow." I told the owl as I let it fly away. I broke the seal on the parchment and rolled it open.

_Harry_,

_I __hate __to __inform __you __about __a __new __development __like __this __but __early __this __morning __after __a __heavy __confrontation __with __Death __Eaters __two __member __of __the __Auror __Office __got __killed __and __Arn __got __severely __wounded. __I'm writing you from St. Mungo's at the moment, I'm not leaving here until I know that Arn will make it. _

_The __confrontation __happened __when __we __wanted __to __arrest __Mrs. __Umbridge. __It __appears __that __her __connections __with __the __Death __Eater __run __deeper __than __we __thought __because __she __is __protected __by __multiple __known __Death __Eaters __and __Werewolves._

_I know you probably would want to come to St. Mungo's as well and you are welcome but if you are busy I'll meet you tomorrow morning at 8._

_I'll inform you if anything changes in Arn's conditions._

_Kingsley._

My heart skidded to a halt for a few seconds and picked up double speed a moment later. Arn and I had grown close the last year, he was like an uncle that loved to teach you all sorts of mischief but also important life lessons. Arn was a great man with great magical skills. I knew he made some mistakes in the last year when it came to hunting down the Death Eaters but that was what we were going to do together, my knowledge and his skills. Now I was in utter shock to read that he, a great skillful auror, was now fighting for his life.

I run back into the store where I found Ginny still browsing the shelves.

"Hey, what do you… Harry, what is wrong?" She asked as she saw my face.

"Bad news." I breathed.

"Who?" She asked as she understood the shock and horror that must have been clear on my face.

"Arn…"

"No!"

"He isn't dead… yet."

"Oh no."

"I want to go to St. Mungo's." I said to her.

"Yes, go…"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, go to your friend and his family. They need you."

"Will you be alright, alone with Teddy I mean?"

"Of course. Drooble will take this and I'm going home as well. I'll wait for you until you get home."

"You don't have to do that." I quickly said, I wasn't sure how long I would be away, it could take until very late.

"I will because I want you to come home before I leave for camp. I want to kiss you before I leave." She said fiercely.

"Alright, but it will be late."

"Just go, Harry. Let me know how Arn's doing."

"Alright. I love you." And with that I apparated to St. Mungo's. My mind already focused on Arn and maybe a bit on revenge… gods I really hated that pink bow-tie ugly toad!

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**_Please review!_**


	50. Hermione's Birthday

**I'm sorry... sorry sorry sorry... that I took so long to update... I had a really heavy writersblock these last few weeks... though I have ideas enough for future chapters, I have a hard time getting there...**

**I hope you'll enjoy this... be careful... there is something lemony in this chapter!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

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**50. Hermione's birthday!**

To our relieve Arn survived. The day after I got back from the camp I visited the hospital with Harry. Although I was happy to see that Arn was still alive it was still really scary to see him like that, he was still in a bad shape, his breathing was aided and there was a healer constantly muttering spells. It was shocking to see his whole body covered in bruises, cuts and blood bandages.

The first evening I was there, Harry and I spoke to the department's head healer for a while. He was a old and wise man that reminded me greatly of Dumbledore. The healer was hopeful that Arn would completely recover but it would take at least until Christmas before he would be ready to work again, if he would ever recover enough to work again.

The next evening I spend some time to talk with Evelin and Lauri. Evelin was a sweet woman, wise and the hands-on approach type of woman. She felt completely helpless now that she couldn't do anything for her husband. She had been very shocked when Kingsley brought her the news of her badly wounded husband. She and her daughter had left everything behind and traveled to London with out even packing clothes.

She didn't want to leave her husband and go home, not even to get some clean clothes. Harry and I offered her and Lauri to stay at Grimmauld place, to have a shower, food and Kreacher was sure he had some fitting clothes for them. Grimmauld place was close by enough for them to walk to the hospital when ever they wanted but than at least they would have the comfort of a home and an elf to take care of them.

Dudley was there as well. It was the first time I met him and was horrified by the big guy. I didn't like him at all, though he was friendly and he was there to support Lauri, I couldn't get over the things he had done to Harry. Harry wasn't too happy with Dudley staying in his house either. We followed him closely when he was first brought to Grimmauld place. Guarded by Kingsley, Dudley was pulled into the Fidelus charm. According to Harry, Dudley was behaving much better but he thought that it was because he was in a dark wizards house and according to Harry, Dudley was still afraid of what Harry could do to him. To our relieve Dudley didn't say or do anything wrong during their stay.

With Arn in the hospital and the Auror office in a uproar, Harry, being Harry, took over and picked up the hunt for the Death Eaters and the Hag.

He had completely taken over the Auror office and together with Kingsley he reorganized the search for every dark wizard and creature that wanted to do harm to our world. He worked with a small team of people he trusted most to look for the Hag, while he had created three small teams to do gain intelligence, check tips and search and arrest the most wanted. He worked long days at the ministry, doing raids, interviewing possible witnesses, holding meetings and scouting lands with possible hiding places.

A few times they got close to her, a few times they almost cornered Umbridge but somehow she always got away. It was one of the main reasons why Harry worked with such a small team. He, and Kingsley agreed, was still considering there was still a leak with in the auror office. It was the only explanation why Umbridge was always able to get away on time.

But Harry was out for revenge, I knew it the moment he left that toyshop, I had seen it in his eyes. He wanted her, he wanted her locked up or death and nothing with stop him. Not, even a leak in his own department.

I was scared. Really scared that he would end up next to Arn. I had spend enough hours with Evelin in the hospital to realize that I had a reason to be afraid. Though I trusted Harry in his judgment and skills, I couldn't stop the fear that lingered in my body every time he left the house. Harry still had a thing for doing something rash and I knew he was getting impatient with this leak and with the Hag getting away from him all the time.

Every morning when he left I saw that fire in his eyes, the anger and the need to make things right. Every day I was afraid Kingsley would show up on the pitch during practice with bad news.

It was always a relieve when he got home in the evening unscratched and I was happy that he came home every evening, I dare say.

When I left for camp the day after Arn was hurt so badly I was really afraid that Harry would leave home as well, that he would go camping again and scout the land for the Hag. Especially after seeing Arn so broken and in pain he was fuming. That evening he was so ready to destroy her and forget everything until he got what he wanted. I was afraid that I would come back home to an empty house but I didn't. Harry was waiting for me at the gate.

I couldn't be more relieved to see him there, I nearly cried. I asked Harry if he had lived at the ministry for the week but he promised had slept at home every day during my absence. Though I knew this was mainly thanks to Kingsley, I knew he was the one kicking Harry out of the office every evening and maybe thanks to my dad because he had invited Harry over to the Burrow two times so that Harry had some company while I was away. Still I was grateful and relieved to see that Harry was learning to let go of things for an evening

After we had a small birthday party, we weren't in the mood to do anything big, life settled in a normal rhythm, well as normal it can be with me being a Quidditch player and Harry the most famous auror ever.

Yet a daily routine started to form, a normal happy routine.

A normal day over the last two and a half months was great but stressful. Great was waking up next to Harry every morning, great was having morning sex before grabbing a quick bite of breakfast together, great were the hours I spend with my new extended family on the Quidditch pitch, great were the evenings with friends we had when we would meet up at Grimmauld place, great were the hours spend on the sofa together.

Stressful were the hours Harry was away, stressful was my training schedule, stressful was the approaching match I had to play two days after Hermione's birthday, stressful were the fans and reporters that started to demand so much of me, stressful was the realization that there were still werewolves and Death Eaters on the loose, stressful was my mom complaining that she didn't see us often enough.

I really was happy that Harry and I started our lives together in a secluded house, in a quiet area. It wasn't that I was getting shy but we had so much to get used to that it was nice to be able to disappear from the earth. Though I knew that soon we would move to Godric's Hollow as Harry's project had really started three weeks ago, I was happy in the Summer house.

Anyway, life was starting to be as I had dreamed off. I just hoped that I wouldn't be so scared every day. That some day I would get used to it.

"Ginny!"

I sighed in relieve as I heard his voice call from the porch door.

"In here, Harry." I called back from the kitchen. I was busy wrapping our gift for Hermione's birthday when I got lost in my thoughts. I listened to his footsteps moving down the hall towards me, for a second I said a silent prayer in the hope he wouldn't be injured.

When the door opened I looked up and slumped against the back of the chair with a relieved sigh.

"You really need to trust me more." Harry said with a careful smile.

"I know. I just can't help it."

Harry walked towards me and wrapped his arms around me.

"I know." He whispered gently. "I know, love but I'm not going to leave you and I have promised you a thousand times that I will try not to get hurt."

"I know, Harry. I really know but I can't help worrying, especially after what happened to Arn. That woman is dangerous, maybe even more than Riddle was. At least somebody knew how to get rid of him."

Harry released me a bit and looked down at me. He looked a bit surprised to be honest. His eyes were wide and there was a deep frown between his eyes.

"You think Umbridge is more dangerous than Riddle?" He asked, slightly skeptical.

"Maybe… At least you know all about Riddle."

"Yes, but we are working hard to learn about her as well. I won't go after her again before I know everything. That what the raids are for."

I nodded, I knew he was taking his job seriously but I'm his girl, I was allowed to worry anyway.

"How was your day?" Harry asked me as he let me sit down again.

"Crazy. Seriously, I know they warned me about it but Gwen gets insane when the match gets close. She had us fly all morning, drilling, yelling, cursing and screaming at us like an insane person and after lunch she had us do stamina exercises until it was time to go home. I swear, we won't be able to fly Sunday because Gwen killed us all."

"Do you know if you'll be playing the first match?"

"No, not yet. Tomorrow we have a day off, thanks to Elly. She was the only one brave enough to tell Gwen that she was over-doing it. So tomorrow we have the day off and than Sunday we have to report at ten back at the pitch for a team meeting and the preparation for the match."

"How did Elly get Gwen to give you all a day off?" Harry asked incredulous. Over the last two months Harry and I had come to know Gwen as a very good friend, we had met up for dinner a few times and even spend a day out at the cinema with her and her boyfriend. Harry knew how obsessed Gwen was with winning and badly she wanted to win the cup this year.

"Rather funny. She asked Gwen if she know who would play Sunday already. When Gwen answered negative, Elly asked when she would think about that. Gwen said, '_when__I__should__be__sleeping__'_. After ten minutes Elly had convinced Gwen that she needed sleep to be able to play at all and that she time to think tactics and team. So we were excused until the match."

Harry laughed loudly as he could imagine the overenthusiastic Gwen giving in to Elly. I tried to laugh as well but my muscles were all sore from practice.

"Sore?" Harry asked as he noticed I clutched my body against the pain.

"Yeah."

"Why don't you let me finish this and you take a warm bath. It will do you good."

I glanced down at the half wrapped present and than at the clock. We still had an hour before we had to be at Hermione's place for dinner.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, you go and have a moment to relax."

I kissed him deeply in appreciation and raced as fast as possible up the stairs, which wasn't really that fast, still I felt like an old lady by the time I reached the top of the stair. I silently cursed Gwen while dragging myself further to the bathroom.

Drooble is really the perfect house-elf, when I entered the bathroom he had already laid out a towel and drawn a bath with soothing potion.

"Everything is ready, miss Ginny." He whispered. "There's a potion for your pain over there, you can take it while you are taking your bath, it will make you feel better."

"Thank you, Drooble. You are a life-saver."

The elf bowed and disappeared, probably he went to help Harry out with Hermione's present.

I stripped down and carefully lowered myself into the hot bath. It felt so good. The soothing potion tingled around my body, focusing on the areas that hurt most. My legs and arms but also my back, it felt like a good massage.

After a few minutes I remembered the potion Drooble left for me. It tasted bad but the effects were immediate. I groaned softly as I felt the muscles in my body relax. I should have asked Drooble for help sooner.

I closed my eyes and let the warmth of the water take over. My mind forgot all worries for a while and came up with ideas for Hermione's hen-party. I found out two weeks ago that Harry, Neville and George were planning a stag party for Ron. I wasn't completely sure what they had in mind but from what Harry was willingly to tell me it would grand and special but still he wouldn't tell me everything.

So I wanted to do something for Hermione as well. I had send a few letters around to the girls asking for ideas and all. I had just sorted through them and together with Luna, I was planning a nice evening of booze, men and food. In the muggle world, of course. So that Hermione's mom could join us as well.

The date was already set, it would be two weeks before the wedding, the same day of Ron's stag party. Also the first part for the entertainment was planned. We were going to have a dildo party Hermione's parents home, it would be fun, maybe even educational but it was going to embarrass Hermione but I was sure not as much as when she would ever find out that it was actually her mother's idea.

"Gin?" Harry called, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Come in, Harry." I called as I opened my eyes and pulled myself up right.

"Did you fall asleep?" he asked as he walked in.

"No, why?"

"I called up twice but you didn't respond." He was half dressed, his dress pants on already but naked torso. I watched his body move as he sat down on the edge of the bath. His soft skin moving over the hard muscles, the stroke of hair outlining the route to a place of pleasure. I had to swallow the burning need away before I could answer.

"I was lost in my thoughts."

"About?"

"About planning Hermione's hen-night."

"Ah, yes… what do you have planned already?" He asked casually.

"Nice try Harry, I am not going to tell you. Not if you aren't willing to tell about what you are planning for Ron."

"Besides that I swore an oath of secrecy… I'm not sure you as his sister wants to know." Harry chuckled.

I sighed and shook my head, maybe Harry was right, maybe I didn't want to know what they were going to do to Ron. It could be something very wrong… more wrong than we had in mind for Hermione.

"What are you planning for Hermione?" Harry asked as he grabbed a towel for me.

"For the last time, I am not going to tell you." I said as I got out the bath and grabbed the towel from him. He turned towards me and smirked.

"Not even when I do this."

He pulled my body against his and attacked my neck with his lips.

"No." I said, I was proud that my voice didn't quiver. Harry's lips were doing sinful things with my sensitive skin.

"No?" Harry asked, I felt him smile against my skin. His hands moved down my shoulders and over my breast. I couldn't help but moan. "Please tell me?"

"No." I moaned. "Harry stop."

He didn't, his fingers trailed down lower over my still wet skin. He pressed himself again me, his dress pants leaving very little to the imagination. My legs were shaking to the point of almost collapse.

"Harry, don't start what you can't finish." I hissed.

"Hmmm. Maybe I'm planning on finishing it." He growled in my ear.

"You only want information." I whimpered.

"That's harsh." He said like he was insulted. Still I could hear the humor in his voice. I stepped aside so that I could look at him, he was trying very hard to look innocent but having grown up with Fred and George it isn't hard to see through that.

"Harry Potter!" I yelped. "You evil man."

He laughed and attacked my neck with his lips again. Trying to continue what he had been doing. This time I wasn't going to give in, I suddenly realized that this was all premeditated. He had planned this, getting me to relax so he could easily rally me up, having me beg and only give in when I handed him the information he has been asking for, for days now.

"Why am I suddenly sure that Luna and Ange are experiencing the same torture today. Torture for information." I said as I turned to glare at him.

He laughed loudly and pulled me in for a playful kiss.

"I'm sorry but I promised George I would try. He said that I would be dead if I tried."

I still glared at him, I should have known George was behind this, Harry wasn't that curious about Hermione's hen-party but still using seduction to gain information that was evil of him, he knew how much I wanted him.

"I'm still thinking about that but first I'm going to have a word with my dear brother tonight."

"Be easy on him, we are all very curious about what you have planned for Hermione."

"As am I about the stag party."

I had been asking Harry about it ever since I found out about their plans, I had hoped that I could combine the parties at the end of the evening but the boys weren't giving in. I knew now that I had been playing this game all wrong.

I made up my mind that I was going to win this game tonight, I could play lot more dirty than that. Harry didn't react to my comment but magically dried his clothes and fixed his hair. The smirk on his face told enough. I worked hard to hide mine, I would have him spill all his secrets tonight without using magic.

"I'm going to get dressed." I told Harry as I left the bathroom. I walked into the closet in search for the new stack of lingerie I had asked Drooble to get me but I couldn't find it.

"Drooble!" I called the house-elf.

"Yes, miss Ginny." The elf appeared next to me with a deep bow.

"Where did you put the new lingerie I asked you to get for me?"

"In the back closet, miss."

The elf walked bouncingly towards the back of the too big walk-in closet. He stopped by the last door and pulled it open. "What were you looking for, Miss Ginny?"

"Something sexy." I murmured with a glance towards the bedroom where I heard Harry walk around. "Something special."

Drooble nodded and reached into the stack of clothes and in the drawer.

"Maybe you is wanting this?" He asked excitingly. He held up a midnight blue negligee with push-up cups and something that would fit tight around my body, nothing loose, it had a matching g-string that covered very little.

"That's perfect." I said with a smile.

"Do you want me to select a dress for you, miss Ginny."

"Not a dress, a short skirt, preferably leather with a blouse. The look has to be very sexy and playful."

Drooble smiled and ran off to the other side of the closet. I was sure that I wouldn't know what to do without the elf. He really was a blessing, with fashion sense.

I dropped my towel and pulled on the lingerie set, with a quick glance in the mirror I realized that I looked really good in it. The whole thing did wonders for my boobs.

Drooble came back with the perfect look for the evening. It wasn't really decent enough for a birthday party where mother's and brother's would attend but I really didn't care, it would fulfill the purpose.

I pulled on the leather skirt, it was tight but a little longer, it reached the middle of my thigh, so it could be considered decent. Drooble handed me matching heeled boots and a dark blue blouse which had lacy see-through sides and sleeves. I looked at myself in the mirror and wondered if my mom would have kittens if she saw me like this but yet again I couldn't find it in me that I cared.

To finish the look off I pulled my hair in a simple ponytail with a few loose strands on the side of my face.

"Harry will have a heart-attack." I whispered. "Thank you, Drooble. You really are a life-saver."

"Thank you, miss Ginny. You need to hurry, it's almost seven. You have to be at the London house at seven." Drooble reminded me.

"I know." I said and walking into the bedroom where Harry was pacing.

"Fina…ly" He started but stuttered as he saw me. His eyes flew wide open and I saw him swallow. I turned around in a twirl to show him my outfit.

"And?" I asked innocently. He licked his lips and swallowed again before taking a breath to answer.

"Beautiful." He whispered.

"Thanks. Shall we go, we are late already."

He nodded but his eyes didn't move away from me. I stopped next to him to kiss him deeply, making sure that he had a good look down my blouse before I skipped past him with a sly smile, I ran down before he could get up with me. I grabbed Hermione's present from the table and ran back to the living room.

"You are going to give your mother a heart attack." Harry said as he stood waiting next to the fire place.

"She isn't the target." I chuckled.

"You are a very dangerous creature, miss Ginny Weasley." Harry growled as he understood my hint.

"and you love me for that." I said as I silenced his growl with a kiss.

"That I do. Now lets go."

It was exactly seven when I stepped out of the fire place at the London house. There were only a handful of houses connected to the Summer House, out of safety reasons mainly, all the other connections were only opened with a pass word. The London house, Grimmauld place, the Head of Hogwarts office and the Shell Cottage were the only places that had a direct connection. Not even the Burrow, on my request, had that, I didn't want mom popping in every day, we had her think that it was standard for all connections to have the need for a password.

Trinkle came to meet us at the fire place telling us that the others were just getting seated at the table.

"Please follow me." the Elf squeaked.

Over the last few month Ron and Hermione had redecorated the house completely. Though it was big enough for the two of them, they had magically enlarged the dining room so that they could give dinner parties. It now seated easily twenty people. Which was very useful for the Weasley family.

"Finally!" Ron yelped as we entered the beautiful decorated room. Hermione had changed it from a simple cream colored room to something a bit more dramatic and Gryffindor. Two walls were maroon, the other two still cream the curtains were a darker yellow, almost golden. It was perfectly Gryffindor.

"Sorry we are a bit late." I said quickly. "Gwen nearly killed me today and I couldn't move until I had a hot bath."

"Sure it was hot." George joked.

"George!" Hermione growled playfully. "It's okay Gin. We were just seated but George and Ron are hungry."

"Happy Birthday Hermione." I said as I kissed her cheeks.

"Yeah, Happy Birthday, Hermione." Harry said as he handed her our present.

"Thanks but I thought I said I didn't want any presents from you two. This house will suffice for a hundredth years of presents."

"Yes, you did but how boring would that be." Harry said as he released her from a hug. "Just get used to the fact that we like to give you things."

Hermione glared at him but didn't reply. Apparently she decided it was better not to argue.

I sat down next to Luna and Angelina, leaving the seat next to my mom and Ron open for Harry. When I looked around the large table I noticed that my mother was clearly not approving of my outfit, she was shooting draggers with her eyes at me.

"I see Harry survived and is unscratched." Charlie commented.

"Of course." Harry shrugged.

"Why would Harry be hurt?" My mom asked nosy.

"They have tried to bribe us for information." Angelina growled. She glared at George who hung is head shamefully.

"What kind of information?"

"What we are planning for Hermione's hen-party."

"Hen party?" Hermione yelped.

"Don't even try, Hermione." I sighed. "You are only getting married once and you will have a hen party. The boys are taking Ron out as well."

"But… but…"

"Hermione, it's no use." Luna said. "Your mother is coming along as well, everybody is excited about it and you will be as well."

There was absolutely no arguing with Luna, not when she said things like that in her own dreamy way. Hermione knew this but was still sputtering, until her mother sighed and glared at her daughter.

"Hermione, stop being such a wuss. You'll have fun, we promise you." Her mother said sternly. Hermione looked properly shock at her mother but I don't think she understood the glint in her mother's eyes. Mrs. Granger was looking forward to the party a lot.

Hermione didn't get time to reply, Trinkle snapped her little fingers and food appeared on the table.

"Finally." George and Ron sighed in union.

Everybody laughed and dived into the delicious smelling food. There was very little chatter through the first two courses. It was all a statement to Trinkle's cooking skills. The food was so good. She had made four different kind of curry's because they were Hermione's favorite.

Harry and I had it a few times before when we stayed with Ron and Hermione for dinner but to Bill, Fleur, mom, dad, Luna and Charlie it was something new and after a hesitant start they all enjoyed it.

"So, Harry, care to explain how you survived this afternoon or did you get the information?" George said as we were waiting for dessert.

"No, Harry didn't get any information." I said lightly.

"And you let him live?" Charlie asked in surprise.

"The day isn't over yet." I smiled sweetly.

The boys glanced mischievously at each other before a big smirk started to form on each of their faces.

"Harry, is in serious trouble." Charlie sighed.

"Boys, please." Mom chided them. Harry nodded but he looked at me to see my reaction. Mom and I generally get along well, after our big fight a lot had changed and after doing some serious thinking about everything that had happened I had realized that it was my mother's smothering that I really disliked.

It was the thing that usually got to me. I really hated when mom tried to correct us like that, especially when it was about innocent things that she considered not proper but tonight I didn't even really hear it I was rather focused on my little game with Harry. I smirked at him and leaned a bit forward to show some cleavage. I was elated to see him swallow, he knew he was toast tonight.

"What about you two, Luna, Ange? The boys must have been onto you for information as well?" I commented.

"Oh, George has tried." Angelina giggled.

"Charlie as well."Luna said quite happily. "It seems like they all have tried…but miserably failed."

We all broke into laughter at the faces of our men. George was pouting and Charlie looked really ashamed of himself. It made me wonder if both men had gone for the same tactics as Harry but then I realized that I didn't want to know things like that about my brothers.

I hated to admit but Harry did neither, he didn't look ashamed or playing the victim, it was like he wasn't even ashamed of what he had tried, that it didn't do anything to him. I would teach him.

Trinkle brought in a big cake for dessert, it was strawberry and chocolate covered. It held a lot of candles. Which had George laughing loudly.

"Wow, Hermione, how old have you become anyway." It earned him a hard tap against his head from Angelina.

Hermione didn't react to George but stared at the cake for a while.

"I think you still need to explain the meaning behind the candles to Trinkle, honey." Her mother said with a chuckle.

"I did but she wouldn't listen. She said it was more decorative with all the candles." Hermione squeaked.

"Perhaps you didn't explain the theory clearly." Harry suggested, it was clear that he had a hard time trying to conceal his laughter.

"Perhaps." Hermione nodded as she continued to stare at the cake. She closed her eyes and tried to blew out the candles all at once and make the wish. She didn't make it through half the candles but thanks to Harry's rather quick thinking and spell work all the candles were out by the time Hermione opened her eyes. For a second she looked surprised, everybody was clapping so she smiled but the quick glance towards Harry made it clear she knew what had happened. Harry just played innocent but we both knew that his magical signature had a very specific feel.

"Open your presents first, Hermione." Her mother said as Trinkle cut the cake into pieces.

In the middle of the table sat a decent pile of gifts, it seemed that we all had chosen for the smaller gifts.

Harry and I had discussed for weeks what we should get for her. Ideas had differed from a trip to the Caribbean to a stack of books Harry knew she wanted. In the end it was Kingsley who came up with the best idea. In the wizarding world there are a lot of personal libraries, public libraries but there are five really famous libraries, the Hogwarts library, the library of the ministry's, one at a school in South America, one at Drumstrang which was grand on dark magic and one in London. Not many knew about it but the national library in London held a department for magical books. It was grand and topped the collection of Hogwarts, the national library held rare items on rare subjects. It was only accessible for those with special permission.

We were sure that Hermione didn't know about this library or she would have done everything by now to get a membership and Kingsley informed us that she hadn't because only the minister for magic was allowed to hand out memberships. The books in that library held a lot of secrets and only those who could be trusted would get a membership. Harry got one when he joined the auror's office, for the auror's it was free but for all the other hopefuls it costs a lot and ensured a lot of paperwork to fill in to become a member. After talking it all through we had decided that Harry and Kingsley would arrange the paperwork for her and we would pay for it. Kingsley didn't make any fuss over approving the request for Hermione.

"Now the one from us." Harry said after Hermione opened two presents with books on magical creatures from my parents. Her own parents had given her a collection of a special edition of her favorite muggle stories.

"Harry, I really meant it when I said you didn't have to get me anything. This house has been enough." Hermione argued as glared at the package.

"I haven't been through all the trouble of wrapping this for nothing, have I? Not to mention all the trouble we went through to get you this." Harry played the guilt card. It was evil of him but it always worked with Hermione. She glared one more time at Harry and picked up the small package. We watched excited as she carefully unwrapped our artwork.

It was silent for a while, she opened the small box and took the small card out. It held her picture, which I had stolen from Ron's wallet a few days ago. She looked at it carefully, turned it around a few times, as if she was looking for something to be wrong with it.

"What is it?" George asked impatiently.

"A library card." Hermione whispered. "But this has to be fake. I don't know a magical library in London."

Harry and I chuckled, at least we were right about that. Before one of us could answer, Bill leaned forward to take a look at the card. After a second he reached in his pocket for his Gringotts special money bag and pulled out a similar card and showed it to Hermione.

"I'm not surprised that you don't know about it, Hermione. It's a well kept secret."

"So this is real?" She asked a bit doubtful.

"Oh yes, that card gives you access to the biggest collection of rare magical books. I got my card when I started to work for Gringotts as curse-breaker. They have so much useful information."

Hermione's eyes lit up as he spoke.

"Only a select view has access to that library, Aurors, teachers of Hogwarts, certain ministry officials, the minister for Magic and some other lucky few. So this is really special." Bill continued to explain to Hermione.

"I'll take you there the day after Ginny's match." Harry said.

"You take me there?" Hermione gasped. Harry smiled at her and held up his card playfully between his fingers. "Auror." He said as he pointed the card to himself.

Hermione took a few seconds to let it all sink in. She looked between the card in her hands, Bill and Harry for a while.

"Harry Potter!" She just half growled, half screamed. "You complete ass! You know about this library for two months already and never told ME about it!"

The whole table fell silent and looked at Harry, surprisingly he seemed unfazed, like he expected something like this. Harry just smiled at her, not even replying. For a minute or so Hermione looked like she was ready to breath fire. It was quite scary. Still Harry just looked at her and waited for her to cool down.

Softly the others murmured around the table about Hermione's outburst. Ron rubbed her back to calm her down but Hermione continued to glare at Harry.

It was like that for an additional minute or so, maybe a bit longer. I was wondering if I should speak up and defend Harry or give an explanation but I didn't know why Harry hadn't told her about something that was so special to her.

Suddenly Hermione got up and raced towards Harry. He was ready when she clashed with him, wrapping her arms strongly around him and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, thank you." She whispered repeatedly. Everybody relax and smiled. Harry held her close and kissed the top of her head, his eyes on me, they were shining with fun and happiness.

I knew than that I would never really understand the kind of relationship Hermione and Harry had, it came close to that of mine and George but it ran deeper, it was more close. I don't know how to explain it but I was happy to realized that it didn't bother me one bit. I knew Harry was in love with me, he wanted me, I knew he never saw Hermione in any other way than a sister, a friend and his best confidant.

I guess it wasn't surprising when you considered what they had been through.

Of course, Hermione, got a lot of gifts related to books and studying. Ron had even bought her a stack of journals in which she could write down all het study notes. All journals were leather bound and very beautiful. Ron had gone through a lot of effort.

Only Luna and George had been very creative. George had given her a whole box of his new wonder witch collection. Including body lotions, oils, candles which would really relax you and his favorite, glamour potion, it gave you a whole new look for an hour or so.

Luna, had made a scrapbook for her, just like she had done for Harry last year with her memories of him, Luna had written down all sorts of small personal messages for Hermione. Each page of the scrapbook held either something personal for Hermione or a picture of something that meant something to her, some held Luna's artwork. It was really beautiful.

"Wow, you are really creative, Luna." Fleur said as she was looking through the book.

"It's nothing, it's something I like to do in my free time."

"Charlie is giving you free time?" George yelped. "Brother do we need to explain some things to you?"

Charlie glared at George, he looked like he was thinking about a wicked remark but Luna got there first.

"No, George, I don't think you explanation will do much good but maybe we can teach you a few things. I'm sure Angelina will appreciate it." Luna said with a playful smile. "but on the former topic. I just love making these books, I make for one person I love and than make an other for somebody else, or I keep them just for me."

"Well, it is really beautiful. Thank you so much, Luna. I will read everything you have written tomorrow." Hermione said with a smile.

Dinner ended with a delicious cake and some more chatter about Luna's hobbies. She was really creative, doing the books, drawing, and painting. She told us some great news. She was asked to work on the reservation for a while, drawing very detailed pictures of each dragon so they could have a good database of all the dragons. Normally they would take pictures but they found out that Luna's drawings were much more detailed and gained much easier as the dragons didn't attack her as often. It was only a temporary job but it gave her time to think about what she really wanted to do with her life.

"Hermione, we really have to go back to the Burrow." My mom said after the table was cleared. "Arthur has a meeting very early tomorrow."

"It's okay, Mrs. Weasley. I didn't expect you all to stay all night really." Hermione said sweetly as she got up.

"I know, sweetheart but I still feel awful to leave so early."

"Don't worry about it, mom. You know you will only get annoyed by us young people as the fire-whiskey starts to flow." Ron said as he steered mom to the door.

As Ron let out mom and dad, Luna and I helped Hermione with getting the party to the living room. Trinkle was carrying in a tray with glasses, a bottle fire-whiskey and a bottle of Elven wine to the living room and we went to the kitchen to get the snacks.

"Ginny, Luna, about the hen party…" Hermione started.

"Hermione, you know you can't talk us out of it." I warned her.

"I know." She sighed. "and to be honest I expected you all to do something so I'm kind of prepared." She admitted with a smirk. "I just don't want anything extreme. Please, no strippers, no stripclub, no drag queen, no crazy things."

"I am appalled that you feel the need to tell us this. We are your friends we know you." I said in fake shock.

"But you do give us some excellent idea." Luna sighed, making Hermione's eyes bulge and a strange squeak coming from her mouth.

"Forget that I said that." She quickly snipped.

"No, but will you please explain what a Drag-Queen is?" Luna said happily as she lifted up a tray of snacks.

"Oh no." Hermione moaned.

"You better explain it to her now or George will do it." I warned her.

Hermione didn't took my advise, so after two rounds of Fire-Whiskey, Elven wine and the arrival of Neville, who couldn't come earlier due to teaching duties, Luna asked what a Drag-Queen was. Hermione hid her face behind a pillow and muttered something about giving ideas.

I couldn't help but chuckle as I waited for George to start he recollection of his unfortunate meeting with a muggle Drag-Queen. I took a sip of wine as I watched George open his mouth but Hermione's dad was quicker.

"A drag-queen? You have never seen a drag-queen?" He asked Luna surprised.

"No, what is it?" Luna asked excitedly. Hermione's father laughed, sure he was happy that he could finally tell about something the wizards didn't know about.

"It a man, generally a gay man, that dresses up like a woman. A real Drag-Queen has a habit to over-do it. Too much make up, too big fake boobs, not shaven legs…you probably get the picture… it's a hobby for some men for others it's a life style, like a get-away from reality and it is used as entertainment."

Luna nodded and stared in front of her, I could clearly see a thinking line in her forehead.

"Dad, why do you know so much about Drag-Queens?" Hermione asked her father.

"One of my patients is one, he showed up a few years ago after he had a bar fight with severely damaged teeth, he was still dress up."

Hermione nodded but she couldn't take her eyes of her father.

"Don't worry, honey, we won't get a Drag-Queen for your hen-party. We have better, more creative ideas." Hermione's mom promised her. Hermione looked completely shocked at her mother. I knew she would be more shocked if she heard about her mother's more creative ideas.

"Oh, Hermione, before I forget it, I brought you a small gift." Neville broke the weird tensions that had started to grow in the remaining silence. He held out a small book like package.

"That's really sweet of you." Hermione said with a smile.

"It's nothing, it isn't even new." Neville said with a blush. We watched as Hermione carefully unwrapped the package, it wasn't a surprise that it was a book but it looked old. Hermione carefully lifted up the cover, the inside looked really old, I couldn't even recognize the language.

"This is really old." Hermione breathed.

"It's from the Longbottom library." Neville explained. "Gran and I found it when we were cleaning out the house. There are a lot of old books in the dark part of the library, I don't need them and Gran doesn't want them so we are donating most to Hogwarts but I saw this and thought of you."

"Thank you." Hermione breathed.

"What is it about?" I asked her.

"It's about the house-elves, their history and how they came to take care of wizards." Neville answered for Hermione. "When I saw what it was about I thought that Hermione should read it, gran agreed."

"How old is it?" Harry asked.

"Probably a hundredth years, a bit more."

The books was passed around for everybody to view, I was surprised that Luna, Bill and Fleur were able to read it. According to Bill it was old English, I believed him because I had never seen anything like it before. To be honest it was a complete mystery to me why Hermione and Fleur could read it as well.

Whiskey and wine was passed around and the evening got later and later. The boys were getting loud and us girls hurdled together.

"How is Arn doing?" Hermione asked me.

"Better, he is at home now. The healer released him last Monday but he still can't do much. Poor Evelin, she gets the full blow now." I sighed with a chuckled.

"How come?" Angelina asked.

"Arn wants to get back to work, do things, Harry says Arn feels quite helpless at the moment but he can't do much physically and vent his frustration on Evelin."

"That so sad." Hermione's mom sighed. We had told her what had happened shortly after the incident. Hermione's parents became more and more involved in our world now that the wedding was getting closer. We considered it only fair to let them in on major happenings and as the attack on Arn had been a major blow to the wizarding world we told them.

"He'll be alright, will he not?" Fleur asked.

"Yeah, the healer thinks Arn will be up and running after the New Year. That's why they send him home. Arn needs to regain his stamina and strength, it will be better for him to do that at home."

"What about Umbridge?" Hermione asked.

"Still looking for her." I shrugged.

"How can she still be missing?" Angelina asked frustrated. "I mean the whole world knows that she is responsible for all this, also for the people that had been send to the Island but nobody is reporting her."

"According to Harry she is surrounded by werewolves and the remaining Death Eaters. It makes her hard to find if she is that protected."

"Why would they protect her, anyway." Fleur sighed.

"They don't know, that's the big question."

"She is definitely evil enough to pick up where Riddle left." Hermione sighed. "I don't know if she really cares about purity of blood but she does have something for power."

"But why werewolves?" Fleur asked. "According to the things I have heard she hates half-breed being, magical creatures and werewolves."

"You forgot children." Luna said gloomy.

"That's what is causing Harry a lot of headache as well. He told me that he heard from Sirius in his fifth year that Umbridge was all for eliminating werewolves."

We fell silent for a while, everybody was thinking about Umbridge and where she could be hiding. Nobody came up with a good idea or any helpful thoughts.

"Pass me the wine again, will you." Angelina sighed as she took up her glass. It broke the silence.

"Ginny, how is Harry doing with the rebuild in Godric's Hollow?" Fleur asked as Hermione and Luna dived into wedding plans again.

"It's going well. Not as fast as Harry was hoping. The structure was more damaged by the blast than they originally thought, so they had to do a lot of extra work but if everything goes well the windows will be places back into the house at the end of next week."

"Bill took me to Godric's Hollow, two weeks ago for dinner. It's a really lovely place. We walked to the house but most of it was covered up with a glamour spell."

"Yeah, Harry wants to keep the press away from the building site, the glamour will stay up for a while."

"How are you going to explain to the muggles in town that the house is suddenly restored?"

"Easy, this glamour only works on the magical beings. Muggles can see the rebuild but never realizes that there is something off."

"Let me guess, Kingsley's work?"

"Yeah." I chuckled.

Bill and Fleur left shortly after eleven, followed shortly by Hermione's parents.

"Ginny, good luck with your match Sunday!" Hermione's father yelled from the door. I nodded and waved at him. Hermione's dad was a real sports guy, muggle or magical. He had been begging Hermione to take him to a Quidditch match but muggles weren't allowed and though Kingsley was making great new legislations about the treatment of muggle parents, going as far as attending a Quidditch match wasn't possible. Harry had promised him to film it, though I had no idea what they meant my dad was really excited about it.

When the parents left the group sat together again and the talk was again about the stag and hen party. Mainly about ideas.

"Stripclub."

"Stripper."

"Male stripper."

"Muggle bars."

"Horror movie."

"Dress up as a drag queen."

"Getting drunk."

"Buying lingerie."

It went on and on.

"Boys, you won't win in originality." I laughed.

"Oh yeah. How can you be so sure." George challenged.

"Because we had the best idea, thanks to Hermione's mom!"

"And it will be brilliant." Luna nodded.

Hermione and Ron had gone awfully quiet. Both were sitting in the corner, looking pale and staring at us.

"Don't worry, Hermione, you'll enjoy it." I said with a smile.

"I don't trust that smile." She said.

"That's harsh, Hermione. I'm your favorite future sister in law and besides that, the maid of honor should plan the hen-party." I gasped in mock hurt. It made the whole group laugh.

"You know, we should plan something together." George suddenly said.

"No!" Luna yelped. "We won't tell you our plans. No way! Not after what you men tried to do tonight."

"I agree totally." I said loudly. "I suggested the idea of planning things together to Harry a long time ago and he didn't want to and now that you know we have planned something grand you want to be a part. No way!"

"Wow, easy. It was only a suggestion." George said quickly.

"You guys are taking this too serious." Hermione sighed. Now the whole group gasped in mock horror. The boys started to rant to her about why it was necessary for Ron to have a stag-party, they were loud and upset that Hermione didn't seem to take it serious.

"Gin." Luna whispered.

"Yeah."

"I take it you will know tomorrow what the boys have planned?"

"Of course." I said with a smile.

It was well after midnight Harry and left for the Summer house, taking the floo-network back I landed a bit unsteady in the kitchen a few seconds before Harry arrived. The elven wine was buzzing in my head as I turned around to see Harry step out of the fireplace.

Remembering my plan for tonight I smiled at him and pulled my wand. I softly whispered a spell to cover his eyes and bind his arms together.

"Ginny?" He asked in shock.

"Yes, Harry."

"What are you doing?"

"I thought we played a little game." I said sweetly. With him blindfolded and bound I slowly stepped towards him and pushed him against the wall.

"A game?"

"Yes, do you trust me?"

"Always."

"Good." I whispered. I kissed him lightly, first his lips, than lower to his neck and collar bone. I slowly unbuttoned his shirt. Making sure my fingers brushed very bit of skin I exposed. I was delighted to feel him whimper.

I carefully played with his sensitive spots on his torso, brushing his nipples with my nails and following them with my lips. A soft groan escaped his lips.

"Follow me." I breathed. I pulled him up the stairs towards our bedroom. Behind him I shut the door and pushed him against it rather roughly. He groaned softly as he hit the wood. I knelt down in front of him and undid his belt and buttons of his trousers and pulled it down. Leaving him in his boxer.

I let my hands brush up his legs, I honestly can say I enjoyed the feeling of his strong muscled legs under my hands. They are real men-legs, strong, solid, hairy and muscled.

When I was done feeling his legs I got up and conjured up a chair in the middle of the room, making sure it faced the bed.

"Come." I whispered as I pulled Harry towards the chair. I placed him so that he felt the chair with his legs. "Sit." I ordered. When he sat down I bound him to the chair, his hands behind his back and I vanished the remaining of his clothes.

"Gin!" He hissed as he felt himself being naked. His rock hard cock saluting the ceiling told me that he really trusted me. I couldn't help but giving in to a momentarily weakness in my need and licked it, just to enjoy the taste of him. "Gods." Harry moaned.

After just tasting him for a second I pulled myself away and removed the skirt and blouse.

"I'm going to remove the blindfold, Harry." I whispered in his ear.

"Hmmmm."

"You can only watch. The binds make sure you can touch." I whispered as I pulled the blindfold from his head. "Let us see how much you enjoy being tortured." I hissed as I stepped away from him.

I stood in front of him, in my heeled leather boots, g-string and negligee. He inspected my look with lusty hooded eyes.

He swallowed and licked his lips. "Beautiful." Escaped from him.

"Hmmm…" I smirked.

I knelt down in front of him again. My eyes locked with his as I lowered my head over his cock and wrapped my lips around him. I fought to keep a clear head and keep eyes contact as I slowly sucked him. I listened to the sounds he made, I wanted to drive him towards the edge but not let him fall over it.

I racked my teeth along his length and licked up eagerly the small drops he released.

"Merlin… Gin…" He moaned, I felt his muscles under my hands lock up and I knew he was close. I pulled back and quickly stepped away. His eyes found focus again and looked at me accusingly. I couldn't help but smirk.

"What?" I asked playfully. "at least I started something I can and will finish. When you beg for it."

"Ah." He said.

"Yes, ah." I growled.

I looked at him as he sat there, defenseless and in desperate need of release. He looked so sexy, so much like the hot hero many young girls thought him to be and he was all mine to play with.

"You see I was very put off with your behavior this afternoon. You don't start something you don't finish."

"I can still finish it for you." He breathed.

"Oh, I'm sure you can but to be honest you don't deserve to do that. I think I better do it myself."

I walked over to the bedside cabinet where we held our play-toys. I dug through it until I found something we hadn't used yet. Mainly because we didn't need it, I usually had enough enjoyment with Harry's cock but today I was going to use it. The big long and thick dildo.

I need to add, it was bought by Harry, he thought we could have some fun with it.

I placed it besides the propped up pillows and walked back towards Harry.

"I hope you enjoy watching." I growled before kissing him deeply.

I took a few steps back, racking my hands over my body, imagining it were Harry's hands. I couldn't help but imagining it was him, I only ever really wanted it to be him, I always imagined it to be him. It was like a life-line to my pleasure.

Quickly I found myself shivering against the pressure my hands created on my nipples. Through the lace fabric of the negligee I pinched and pulled them. They were hard…

I laid myself down on the edge of the bed. Making sure Harry was able to see everything clearly.

Slowly I let my hands roaming down my body.

"Harry, I can almost feel your hands on me." I breathed. "Can you feel it too?"

"Yes." He whispered.

One of my hands found the hem of my g-string. I let it slid underneath it and brush the already very wet flesh. I saw Harry shift a bit in his chair and draw a shaky breath.

"Do you know, how much I like the feeling of your fingers here?" I breathed as I let one finger trace the outside of my core. Before he could answer I removed my excuse for a panty and showed my wet pussy to him in all it's glory.

"Can you imagine how it would feel, pushing your finger in." I asked him as I pushed my own finger in, I needed to stretch myself a bit before I used that big thing.

"Gin…" He hissed.

"Yes, Harry?"

But he didn't answer, I saw him fight against his need for friction, I watch for a few seconds as he tried to regain his composure.

I continued playing with myself, always watching Harry for signs of weakness but after the initial moan he stayed silent. Sometimes I saw him trying to move a bit and every now and then he took a deep breath but he didn't say anything.

I on the other hand was moaning. I was writhing under my own hands as I imagined Harry playing with me. Once I realized I had to up my game I reached over head and grabbed the dildo. It felt huge in my hands.

I let it brush over my breast, softly moaning as something foreign touched them. I leaned up a bit to show Harry how I was playing with it. Brushing the thick thing between my breast I looked directly at Harry.

"Can you imagine how it would feel fucking my breast?" I groaned.

A soft whimper escaped from his lips.

"I'm sure you would be coming all over me. spraying that… hot… wet… released over me." I couldn't help but moan between the words. I clearly could imagine how it would feel, I imagined that I would lean in to catch it with my mouth.

"Merlin!" Harry breathed. I could hear in his voice he was about to die without a release.

"I could release you, you know." I whispered. "I could let you go and take me. hard, roughly, wild like an animal. Maybe even submissive. I could do that…"

Harry's eyes wideness, the lust was burning with in them was almost painful to stay away from him. I had to hold on to the blanket not to do just that.

"But, you have to tell me something first."

That cleared his mind a bit, I could see some sort of reason return in his eyes.

"What?" He asked.

"The stag-party. I really want it to finish with our hen-party. I've got some brilliant ideas but you have to tell me about your party to make sure it fits."

"I won't. George and Neville will kill me." Harry moaned.

"So will I." I smiled.

I focused on the dildo again. It was much bigger than Harry and though I was sure it would fit I had a hard time imagining it was Harry. I brushed it between my legs a few times. It felt better than my own fingers but nowhere near as good as Harry.

"hmmm… I can imagine you doing this to me, Harry. Do you want to?"

I carefully slid the tip of the dildo in. my feet were resting on the edge of the bed giving Harry a good view.

"Please." He whispered.

"Tell me first."

"I can't." He moaned.

I sighed and continued playing. I pulled the dildo back a bit before pushing it back it a little further, the thing stretched me widely. I moaned in pleasure. I heard Harry groan as well. I repeated the movement a few times, every time pushing it in a bit deeper.

"Please, Gin," Harry moaned.

"Tell me first." I said stubbornly.

"Can't"

"Too bad."

The dildo was now halfway into my core, I felt it hit that sweet spot that Harry always managed to find. "Merlin." I groaned as I felt the heat building up quickly.

"Do you want to see me come, Harry." I hoarsely whispered. "Or do you want to make me come?"

He didn't answer.

"It almost feels as good as you." I moaned as I pushed the dildo in again. "it stretches me. it hits that spot. You know, that one spot that makes me scream. I feel my own wetness dripping off it." I continued my stream of words. Moaning, groaning and fighting against the building pressure in my body. I didn't want to come yet.

"Ginny!" Harry groaned. "Please!"

"What do you want?" I moaned.

"Please let me touch you."

"No."

I pulled out the dildo and threw it to the side. I got up and walked towards Harry. I was proud that my legs were still able to carry my weight around without much shaking.

"Ginny." Harry breathed. I looked at him, taking in his whole body. He was sweating, breathing heavy and his cock looked painfully hard. "Ginny please." He shifted in his seat. I kissed him softly on his lips.

"You know what to do to get it." I breathed.

"Please, Gin. I want you."

"I want you too, but I want something else first."

"I can't."

I leaned down and for a few seconds sucked the tip of his leaking cock.

"Please…."

"Just tell me."

I straddled him a bit, widening my legs in front of him and slid one finger in my pussy, coating it with my juices. I pulled it out and brush the wetness over Harry's lips.

"You can have it, you just have to tell me." I breathed. I watched as he licked his lips. He closed his eyes and moaned. When his eyes open something had changed. His eyes showed only want, he wanted me badly. I knew from the look in his eyes that when I released him he would take me. Hard, roughly and probably against the wall.

"We…" He breathed. "We haven't planned much yet…" He groaned when the words escaped his mouth. I quivered in anticipation and took his cock in my hand. "Neville has arranged for us to have dinner somewhere. He got the tip from Seamus, so it is in some dirty, sex-infested place I'm sure."

"Go on." I said as I took his nipple between my teeth and nibbled it.

"George wants to take him to a stripper club." Harry groaned. I slowly started to move my hand that was around his cock. "I'm not for that, too cheap… fight with you… Ron and Hermione too…"

His breath started to become really heavy.

"What do you have planned?" I pressed.

He just moaned.

"Say it, Harry." I ordered as I squeezed a bit. "Say it and I'll release you."

"A horror night." Harry breathed. "Muggles do it often… Ron has to complete tasks while the whole environment is scary, spiders, people killing… "

That wasn't as good as I thought it was. To be honest I was a bit disappointed by their lack of ideas. I hoped for them that Seamus's tip would be good but knowing the Irish man it would be.

Still Harry told me and I whispered the words that released him and braced myself for his need.

As soon as he was free, he grabbed me and as I expected he grabbed me roughly. He lifted my up and threw me onto the bed. He came up behind me and grabbed my hips. I couldn't even count to two before he slammed his cock into to me.

"Harry!" I screamed.

Than he did something he had never done before without me knowing it, he hit me. his hand came down rather hard on my ass. I couldn't help but yelp. It didn't stop him pounding into me, hitting that sweet spot every time.

"You… are… evil…" Harry growled. His hand came down again bit this time I loved it.

After a few times he stopped spanking me and reached for my breast. When he found them he kneaded them, his fingers were persistent and rough. I was sure they would be a bit bruised afterwards but I greatly enjoyed the feeling.

"Gods, Ginny." Harry moaned. "So slick."

He started to talk dirty, moaning words in my ear. It brought me to the edge. I leaned forward to create a new angle in which Harry could enter me more deeply. It only took him three more deep hits before he send me screaming over the edge.

I felt him following me down, I felt his cock pulsing and his hot seed spilling inside me. I felt it all but I didn't hear his roar, waves of pleasure were pounding in my ears, drowning out all other sound.

We both crashed down in utter bliss.

Harry wrapped his arms around me and pulled me even closer to him.

"George is going to kill me." he sighed.

"Nah…not when I come up with something good where we could end the party." I chuckled.

"You talk like you have something in mind already." Harry said as he kissed my neck.

"I have."

"Tell me, please."

"Take them blindfolded to Grimmauld place, created a setting that looks like a strip club. We tell Hermione we will get a stripper course, you tell Ron he is in a strip club. We will try to get Hermione stripping for Ron."

Harry was silent for a while, thinking it all through.

"That's bloody brilliant." He breathed.


	51. First Match

**Next one! this one is a little short and the title sort of spoils what it's about... but I hope you enjoy it...**

**Next chapter will be Hermione's Hen party...**

**Please please please... send me reviews... they make me write a lot faster..**

* * *

**51. First match.**

"Ginny!" I heard Harry call. "Love, you have to wake up."

"mmmmm, not yet,…"

"You have to." Harry pressed.

"Just a few minutes more." I moaned in my pillow. I still felt so tired. A day without training hadn't done my body much good. It was sore and stiff.

"Gwen is going to kill you when you're late." Harry said as he gave me a small nudge.

"urgh!" I groaned loudly, I tried to stretch my body painfully.

It was the morning of my first match as a professional Quidditch player. I couldn't deny that I was nervous. When I woke up the morning after Hermione's birthday the jitters started. Drooble had offered me some calming potions but I refused. I wanted to feel it. However now I was doubting my decision. I hadn't been able to sleep very well and my whole body felt like lead.

"Come on, love. A hot shower will do you good." Harry pressed again.

To this I agreed on and got up. I glanced at the clock and realized that I was really running late, it was already nine in the morning. I sighed as ran towards the shower, praying to Merlin or any other who wanted to listen that I felt better and more awake after the water hits my body.

As I stepped into the shower I heard Drooble enter the bathroom with fresh clothes in his arms. My official Holyhead Harpies training suit. Seeing it brought back all the jitters I had felt the day before.

This afternoon the stands around the pitch would be full, fans from both teams would be cheering, shouting and yelling us on. The worst part was we had to play against Oliver Wood. One of George's best friends, a fellow member of the resistance, a good friend of Harry and a brilliant keeper. Yes, our first match and we were playing Puddlemere United.

I knew deep down that we could win this, Puddlemere wasn't that good, we should win this match but though the wizarding world was very free thinking they still were very unsure about an all female team and it annoyed Gwen to no end, she had pressed on the fact that we need to prove the world every season that women can play Quidditch better than men.

So, no pressure.

Sadly the shower didn't wash away the nerves but I had no choice but to step out and get ready for a day of Quidditch.

"Are you alright, love." Harry asked as I joined him at the breakfast table.

"Nervous." I sighed as I started on my Gwen-ordered heavy breakfast.

"You don't need to be. We saw Puddlemere last week, they don't play that good. You and Gwen alone could win it."

"If I play. I'm not even sure of that." I pointed out.

"Gwen will be insane to not let you play."

"There are more, better playing, more experienced chasers in the team."

"More experienced, yes but not better. You, Penny and Julliene make such a good team. You play like you know each other's thoughts. I'm sure Gwen will let you three play."

"That's really sweet of you to say, Harry but I don't want to get my hopes up."

"Do you think Gwen will let Irial seek?" Harry asked.

"Don't think so. Irial is good but she is too easily distracted. I'm sure Kelly will play."

Harry nodded.

"I'll be there shortly before the match, the team is going to do a sweep of the pitch and fans before the match for dark magic." Harry said.

"Do you expect something?" I asked as I finished my breakfast.

"No, not really but you never know. The whole wizarding world knows that we will all be there to watch you play. I just don't want to take any risks."

I nodded and got up to grab my bag and broom.

"I know you are just being careful but should I worry?"

"Nah, just keep your wand with you in case you need it, besides that just have fun."

Harry got up and kissed me deeply. He was trying to convey all the love and peace he felt with me and it worked, for the first time since I woke up I felt relaxed.

"Now, go before Gwen kills you." He said with a smile.

"Yeah, I'll see you in a few hours." I smiled and stepped out.

I slowly walked down to path to the gate, taking deep breaths of the fresh wood air that hung around the house. It was now a familiar smell, it was soothing and it helped me still my nerves a bit. When I reached the apparition spot I made sure I was calm enough to focus on getting to the complex unsplinched.

It was surprisingly calm around the complex. I don't know what I expected, maybe screaming fans or journalists yelling for attentions but not this silence. I heard a small pop behind me and turned quickly, my hand was already on my wand. My breath hitched in my throat but escaped quickly when I saw Irial standing just a feet behind me.

"Something wrong?" she asked as she looked at my hand that was wrapped around my wand.

"No." I sighed and released my wand. "I'm just still a bit jumpy."

Irial nodded and smiled. Together we walked towards the office.

"How is Harry's boss doing?" she asked.

"Better. He is at home now. The Healer send him home to regain his strength."

"How is Harry doing?" Irial asked concerned.

"Perfect, he is just being Harry. Out for revenge but never forgetting about those he loves."

"He'll probably needs a holiday after he finds that woman."

"Yeah, I bet and me too."

Still laughing we walking into a full office. The complete team was already there, with the exception of Gwen. We said a quick hello to the rest of the team and sat down in the remaining two chairs. On the other side of me sat Julliene.

"Ready for your first match?" She asked happily.

"Yeah, though I don't think I'll be playing much today." I sighed. Weeks ago I had already come to terms with the fact that I wasn't the best player in the team. Anna, Penny and Sabine had much more experienced and talent to play next to Julliene. So I really had no illusions about playing from start.

"Of course you will play." Julliene whispered urgently.

"Lets wait for Gwen and see." I sighed.

I could hear Gwen walking down the hall. Her quick footsteps were clearly distinguishable. The door flew open and a wild looking Gwen stomped in. I was shocked by the ferocity in her eyes and a quick glance to Julliene told me that this wasn't normal.

Gwen walked without saying anything to her desk and slumped down in her chair. It took her a few breaths before she calmed down enough to talk.

"I just got back from the pre-match meeting with the press." She sighed. "I don't want to place you all under even more pressure but we really have to win this match. I know it's the first match of the season but I'm not going to give those bastards anymore reason to doubt an all women team."

She growled, literally growled to the door.

"I don't even know why they doubt our playing, we have been one of the top teams for the last twenty years!" She yelled frustrated. Irial and I flinched away from her. I had seen her angry and upset but this was a whole new level of intensity. Julliene patted my knee.

Gwen stayed silent for a while, her head in her hands as she tried to regain her composure. The whole team waited in silence until Elly got up and walked towards Gwen. She laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. It looked like a very motherly gesture.

"We'll win Gwen. You know we will."

Gwen looked up at her, the need to believe it was clear in her eyes, she was desperate, she really felt the need to win it. It was what erased all my nerves, my captain and friend was in need of aid, she needed us to win to erase her anguish, I would do it. If she let me play I wouldn't fail her. I had never failed a friend and I wouldn't start now.

"Thanks, Elly. You are right, of course." Gwen sighed. She took a sip of her drink and looked at us and nodded. "I'm sorry, team. I know I shouldn't listen to those annoying idiots. Of course we are going to win, I haven't been yelling and screaming at you all for nothing."

Slowly a grin started to appear on Gwen's face and with renewed spirit she got up and walked up the magical team board. We all watched in anticipation as she started to wave her wand at it.

"Okay, this is the formation of the United team. I know all players except for the keeper." Gwen said.

"I know him." I spoke loudly.

"You do?"

"Yeah, Oliver Wood, he has been Gryffindor team captain for three years, he is the one that taught Harry how to play Quidditch, he's a very good keeper. Harry and I have been to their match last week, Oliver is good but he has a weak spot if you score from below."

"Thank you, Ginny!" Gwen squealed. "Though, if he taught Harry how to play he must have a lot of tactical insight and skill. Let's see how he plays. However the rest of the team is the same as two season back. The chasers are fast but they aren't a team, they normally go for their own chance. Their Seeker has gotten better but he is still easily distracted, that's why I'm going to have Irial play today."

"Really!" Irial squealed loudly.

"Yes, really. Now don't get me wrong, you have as much Seeker skills as Kelly but you are still very young and inexperienced to really play in an important matched so first of all you should take this as a change to gain some experience and to prove to me that you have learned enough to play more often but there is an other reason why you play today. The United Seeker is a male, a very hormone driven male, from what I know he thinks with his dick, so while you are Seeking you also have to distract him, take his mind of Seeking."

Irial nodded eagerly. I believed it didn't matter to her that Gwen still didn't consider her good enough, only the chance to play meant something to her. And I have to admit I would feel the same.

"Now, for the rest of the team. I know we have added a few new members and I know we have a lot good players but for the majority of the team I'm going for the same formation as two seasons ago. The only change I make is that Ginny will be flying with Julliene and Penny as Chasers."

"What?" I gasped.

"You play." Gwen said with a smile. "You three form such a good team and I know you are inexperienced and probably feel a bit overwhelmed but I'm sure you can handle it."

I couldn't help but stare and gape. I was honestly shocked. I had been so sure that I wouldn't play today, maybe as a substitute but not at the start. I still felt really unworthy of my position in the team, I wasn't as good as the other Chasers, I was slower and not as stable on the broom. I didn't know all the tactics yet.

Our team existed out of six Chasers, Julliene and Penny were the best, they had always played together with a witch who was murdered by the Death Eaters but besides me there were still much better than me, Anna and Sabine had been with the team for three years already, they should have played, not me.

I barely heard Gwen's tactical discussion, I honestly tried to pay attention but I was a bit lost in the idea of playing my first match. I would have never thought that I would be so scared and nervous.

I was able to stay focused through out her explanation of the flying tactics in defensive situations for the chasers but I missed the whole part in which she explained the tactics of Puddlemere. I think it was a good thing Harry and I had been watching them play just the week before in the openings match of the season.

And I missed her last part, at least until Gwen yelled my name.

"Ginny!"

"Yeah… sorry. What did you say?"

"Gin, please, pay attention!" Gwen yelled.

"Yeah, I will."

"Good, what I wanted to know…" she sighed, "Has Harry mentioned any safety precautions for today's match?"

"Oh… yes,… he has. The auror team is going to do a full sweep of the pitch and it's surroundings shortly before the fans are allowed in. They will also do a sweep of the fans when they are in for dark magic and concealments."

"That's extensive." Elly said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, Harry says that half the world knows he, Hermione and Ron will be here as will be everybody left from the Order of the Phoenix. They don't want to take risks."

"I guess that was the one minor of having you on my team, it sure brings some extra risks, but the thought of playing against you…" Gwen shook her head.

I wasn't sure if I should be insulted or sad at that statement. I had long ago realized that dating Harry would bring me and everyone around me. It was a price I paid happily for my life with Harry but I suddenly realized that not everybody wanted to pay that price just to be my friend or team mate.

"Don't worry about it, Gin. We are happy to have you on the team." Irial said quietly as she patted my knee.

"Okay, everybody, lets get dressed and start our warming up." Gwen yelled through the room.

The warming up was brutal. Though the weather was perfect, it was cloudy, there wasn't any rain or wind and it wasn't very warm but Gwen didn't saw the positives. She was only yelling and screaming for us to get in focus.

And we were after twenty minutes of drilling and flying. We were all excited, bubbling and ready for blood.

When we headed back to the changing rooms under the pitch I saw Harry and his team starting their inspection of the stands and in the distance we heard the fans coming towards the stands. It was going to be a thrilling match.

Seeing the pitch and hearing the fans brought back the inner turmoil, I was still in a state of shock. I grew nervous again, I was afraid to fail my team. I really didn't feel ready to play this match.

"Ginny?" I heard next to me as I started to dress in our uniform.

"Yeah."

"Are you alright?"

I looked up to see Gwen standing next to me looking extremely worried.

"I'm fine, just very shocked."

"Shocked? About what?"

"About me playing. I'm nowhere near as good as the others, I don't know the teams tactics like them, I'm not as fast. They should play not me." I said as I waved my hand at my other team members. Everybody got silent as my voice steadily got louder in panic.

"Don't you want to play?" Gwen asked.

"Of course! But I want what's best for the team."

Gwen sighed and pulled me down next to her on the bench. Around us the rest of the team continued quietly changing into their gear.

"Ginny, listen to me. I didn't pick you to fly today for nothing." Gwen said slowly. I turned to look at her. She looked a bit worried but determined. "I know how you are feeling, you are nervous, young, new to this team and you feel unworthy to play already but your are just as worthy as the rest of us. You work hard every training, you participate in the group, you know how to score and pass but the main reason I choose to fly with you is because nobody in this team reads the game like you do. You see the moves of your opponent before they happen, you see openings in places where others wouldn't dare to go, your insight in the came and creative solutions is so valuable for the team."

"She's right, Gin." Anna said. "I will never be able to fly like you do, you will never be able to fly like me, we all have our own qualities and it's given to Gwen to select those qualities she needs to defeat our opponent."

The rest of the team murmured in agreement.

"See, in this team you are never sure of your place, I do have a general basic of a team but for United I need you, they have good Beaters, I need somebody who can see it coming. Next game maybe I need somebody with more stability like Anna or formation skill like Sabine, than I select somebody else." Gwen explained.

I slowly started to realize how the team was build. I always thought a Quidditch team existed out of seven main players and the substitutes were just their to replace injuries but I now saw Gwen had build a completely different idea. She had selected so she could create a flexible team that way she had access to all sorts of skills. It was bloody brilliant.

Slowly I started to grin and Gwen smiled.

"See."

"That's bloody brilliant. I should have thought of something like that when I was captain." I whispered, making the whole team laugh.

Fifteen minutes later the doors opened that would lead us towards the pitch and the nervousness came back. This time it was a good feeling, it was exciting. In the distance we heard the fans roar. I gripped my broom tightly. Checked for one last time if I had my wand with me as Harry suggested and walked up next to Julliene.

"Ready?" Gwen yelled.

"Ready!" everybody screamed and mounted their brooms. I kicked off and soared out onto the pitch.

"AND THERE IS THE HOME TEAM, THE LOVELY LADIES OF THE HOLYHEAD HARPIES!" I heard the commentator roar above the extremely loud yelling of the fans. I understood why Gwen learned to yell so loudly, she needed it. "JONES HAS BEEN WORKING HARD TO GET HER TEAM TOGETHER, AND WE SURE SEE SOME NEW FACES! BEATERS ARE JONES AND PANNETI, THE ITALIAN GIRL, KEEPER IS THE EVER PRESENT ELLY ROADS, SEEKER THIS MATCH IS THE SMALL BUT FAST IRIAL BURROW, CHASERS ARE PENNY TURNER, JULLIENE KINLAN AND THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED GINNY WEASLEY!"

There was a loud roar when my name was called, I recognized it as Luna's Gryffindor lion, I turned a bit to the sound to see the auror box full of red heads, two blonds, a brunette and two raven haired fans applauding and screaming loudly.

"MISS WEASLEY COMES FROM A WELL KNOWN BREED OF GOOD QUIDDITCH PLAYERS AND DATES THE BEST SEEKER GRYFFINDOR HOUSE HAD EVER SEEN SO WE EXPECT A LOT FROM HER!"

_Yeah,__thanks__for__the__additional__pressure_.

We did a lap around the pitch to greet all the fans and landed in the middle of the pitch to start our match. When I landed I recognized Oliver immediately, he looked nervous. It was his second for United, I could imagine he was still nervous, though he did play good when we saw him.

I managed to smile and winked at him but quickly turned my attention back to Gwen. She was shaking hands with the referee and the captain of United.

Soon we were off.

"AND THE BALL IS FOR THE HARPIES IMMEDIATELY!" the commentator yelled. "SEE THEM GO! QUAFFLE IS PASSED FROM KINLAN TO WEASLEY. LETS SEE WHAT SHE CAN DO….WOW LOOK AT THAT SPEED. OWWW….WATCH…OUT…"

I barely dodged the Bludger that was aimed at me from the left. This was a whole different game than we played at school, the bludgers traveled at higher speed and more accuracy. The pace was higher and everything happened much quicker. I really needed to pay better attention. Luckily I was able to keep hold on the Quaffle and pass it to Julliene.

"KINLAN BACK IN POSSESION…. TURNER….WEASLEY…. NICE DOGDE! TURNER AGAIN… THEY REACH THE POSTS…. KINLAN… LETS SEE WHAT WOOD CAN DO… KINLAN… WEASLEY… TURNER…WEASLEY."

"Come on Ginny! Score!" I vaguely heard Gwen yell but I now was focused, this was just an other summer. Weasley friendly match. I approached Wood like that many times before the first summer after I made the school team.

"WEASLEY! WEASLEY! SHE BREAKS TO THE LEFT! WEASLEY THROWS! SCORE!"

Yes! Yes! I made it. First offence of the season and I scored! I was so happy. It sounded like the whole earth celebrated.

"I knew you could do it, Ginny!" I heard Gwen yell.

I was really proud and happy with my start but the easiness of the game didn't last long. Puddlemere United got their wake up call and upped their game massively. The game got quicker and rougher as time went on.

"JONES IS HAVE A HARD TIME KEEPING HER CHASERS SAFE!" I heard the commentator yell after a while. "PUDDLEMERE'S BEATERS GOT A LOT BETTER SINCE LAST SEASON. QUAFFLE IN POSESSION OF THE HARPIES. KINLAN SPEEDS UP. KINLAN TO WEASLEY…WEASLEY DIVES… WHO THAT GIRL CAN PLAY…TURNER…TURNER… WOOD SAVES! BACK WITH PUDDLEMERE."

It went on an on like that. At the stand of seventy for us, fifty of Puddlemere, Irial got sight of the Snitch. The whole stadium gasped as Irial went after it. I wished I had even a second to watch her but I didn't got a chance. Either we were passing the Quaffle or playing defensive.

"BURROW IS GOING FOR THE SNITCH! WINKINS IS FOLLOWING HER CLOSELY…OWWWW! THAT BLUDGER MUST HAVE HURT…"

I took a chance to see what was going on, I saw Irial gasping for breath and holding her chest tightly. The poor thin girl got hit by a bludger. Gwen called for a time out.

I landed next to Irial and caught her before she fell to the ground.

"I have you." I gasped. "Stretch. Breath calmly." I whispered to her as I made sure she held herself up and got air into her body. Quickly a healer came rushing over and took a look at her. She performed a quick spell and Irial's breathing became better.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks for catching me." she whispered.

"Irial, are you okay?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, give me a second."

"Alright, we are up with two goals, so we either need to step it up or Irial has to catch that snitch." Gwen yelled at the group. "We play much better than they do, so we should win this."

Thirty seconds later we were off again.

"IT LOOKS LIKE IT WAS A MINOR INJURY FOR BURROW! JONES LOOKS LIKE SHE IS OUT FOR BLOOD THOUGH! QUAFFLE IS BACK WITH PUDDLEMERE. THEIR CHASERS ARE FAST. ROADS SAVES! WEASLEY … KINLAN, WEASLEY… TURNER… TURNER SCORES!"

The match continued like that for an other forty-five minutes. I felt so sore and tired on the broom. Though, I was able to keep up, I prayed to all the gods and Merlin that Irial would catch that snitch soon.

"WINKINS HAS SEEN THE SNITCH… LOOK AT HIM GO… BURROW IS HOT ON HIS TAIL BUT CAN SHE CATCH UP?"

"Hey, nice ass you have, Winkins!" I heard Irial shooting when they passed across the pitch. I couldn't help but snicker. "Wouldn't mind getting my teeth in that!"

I wanted to stop and see what Irial was doing and if her distractive moves were working but I had to play and stay focused, all I had to go on was the commentator.

"THE TWO SEEKERS ARE GOING HEAD TO HEAD… LOOK AT THAT SPEED! WAIT… WHAT… WHAT'S THAT! I BELIEVE WINKINS LOST SIGHT OF THE SNITCH… WHAT GOT HIM SO DISTRACTED… BURROW IS STILL SPEEDING. HAS SHE SEEN IT?"

I managed to stay focused on my game. It was hard. At school the pace was a lot slower and I had been able to watch what the others were doing when it was needed. Now Julliene was yelling at me to stay focused.

"YES, BURROW HAS STILLS SIGHT OF THE SNITCH… LOOK AT HER FLY! I SEE IT TOO. SHE IS CLOSE."

"Come on Irial, catch it!" Gwen was yelling again.

"SHE IS CLOSE! CLOSER… WOW, NICE HIT BY JONES… SHE DOES EVERYTHING TO KEEP HER SEEKER SAFE. THERE IS WINKINS AGAIN… MAYBE PUDDLEMERE STILL GOT A CHANCE. BURROW IS CLOSING IN, THAT SMALL BALL IS FAST… SHE REACHES…YES! THE HOLYHEAD HARPIES WIN! BURROW GOT THE SNITCH!"

I pulled and the brakes and turned to where I knew Irial was. We won! My first match and we won! I scored! Three times… we won…

I raced towards Irial and flung my arms around her.

"We did it! You did it." I screamed as I hugged her. It was a good thing we were close to the ground or we would have fallen quite far but we landed softly on the grass, laughing loudly.

"Did you hear that, Gin? What I said to him?"

"Bits."

"Once I asked him if the front looked as good as the back he lost it." Irial laughed loudly.

The rest of our team joined us quickly and Irial got all the honors and hugs she deserved. She told and retold her distraction tactics over and over again. Soon the whole team was rolling around in laughter.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned around.

"Oliver!" I gasped when I saw who was standing behind me. I quickly gave him a hug.

"Brilliant match you played, Ginny." He said as he hugged me back.

"You too." I said as I stepped back to look at him. It had been a while, he had been there for our birthdays but I didn't got the chance to have a talk with him than.

"Nah, not really. I noticed you spilled the beans on me." he said. I was happy to see him still smiling.

"I'm sure you have done the same."

"As much as I could, which wasn't much to be honest. I haven't seen you play since you were what? fourteen? Fifteen? I only knew about your scorings technique which has gotten a lot better."

"Than I'm sorry, Oliver, but I told them all about your weak spot."

"It doesn't matter." Oliver laughed. "what did matter was that you all seemed to know about our seekers weak spot."

"Yeah, Gwen told us. Irial found a perfect distraction."

Oliver laughed and glanced over at my team.

"I have to go." He said. "You go and have fun with your team. I'll see you at Hermione's and Ron's wedding."

"Yeah, good luck with you other matches." I said and I waved his goodbye.

It was one big party after the match. First we celebrated it loudly under the showers as we sung and laughed together. After that we had a press meeting, which was Gwen's chance to get revenge. She glowed literally when she said that all the reporters who had said that an all woman team would never be good enough could leave.

The press meeting still took a long time, especially when the reporters wanted to know how Irial was able to distract the other Seeker. It was a tactical secret and everything that was discussed in between the team stayed within the team so Irial came up with a brilliant story about how she flashed her opponent making us all laugh loudly.

When we finally had some time for us to be together as a team it felt good.

It was a team rule that after the match we would eat together. No family, no friends, just the team. Either we took the time to really feel the high of the win or to mourn our loss together. I really liked that rule though I did really miss Harry's happy supportive face that let me know I did good. I missed his arm around me but instead I found a lot of arms to find support from.

"I knew you could do it, Ginny." Gwen said as she sat down at the table next to me.

"Thanks."

"How are you feeling?"

"Dead. I'm so tired. During the end of the match I kept wishing for Irial to hurry up and catch that snitch. I thought that I would fall off if the match didn't end soon."

Gwen chuckled and nodded. "That's why I let you fly so much during training."

"I know, you won't hear me complain. I was just surprised by how much it would ask from my body."

"Yeah, and getting drunk on Hermione's birthday wasn't very helpful either." Gwen commented.

"How did you know?" I gasped.

"I have my informants." She smirked. "I honestly don't mind you having fun in your life and partying. Merlin knows you deserved it but please remember that it takes at least three days for your body to recover from the alcohol."

I gaped at her, everything Harry and I did was a well kept secret. Our friends and family knew to keep quiet about the things we did, for our safety and sanity but also for theirs. We didn't want reporters to think that they could get information about us from others, not to mention Death Eaters on the loose.

Gwen chuckled.

"Don't look so worried about it, I'm not kicking you off the team for a little party."

"No… that's not it…" I quickly said.

"Than why do you look so worried?" Gwen asked.

"How did you know about me drinking at the party?"

"Oh that?"

"Yeah, we make sure that everything Harry and I do stays behind closed doors. Safety measures, if you like, we are so careful about it. So how did you know?"

Gwen looked very uncomfortable, like she felt guilty or something.

"I don't think you'll take the '_can__'__t__reveal__my__informants_' excuse, do you?"

"No."

"Please, don't get angry with him but I ran into Bill yesterday in London. I went to Gringotts for business and bumped into him. We went for lunch."

"Wait! You know Bill? Personally?"

"Yeah, from school." Gwen said. I did notice she blushed so I decided not to press it, I would ask Bill when I got the chance. "So, we got into talk and I told him he looked like he had a hangover. He joked around that it probably wasn't as bad as you would look like. He said something like 'your chaser will probably be in much worse shape'… I knew about Hermione's birthday, it had been all over Witch weekly, I put two and two together."

I groaned and closed my eyes.

"He didn't mean to spill the beans on you. He was just joking." Gwen quickly reassured.

"I know…" I sighed. "I just realized that the whole secrecy thing is going to be screwed."

Gwen looked at me for a long time without saying something. Because she didn't say anything I continued to eat but I couldn't help feeling her eyes on me. The times I took a glance at her she was looking like she was in deep thought.

"Ginny." She suddenly said. "you can't live your life like that."

"Like what?"

"In fear."

"Fear?" I asked in disbelieve. I didn't live in fear, yes I feared for Harry's life daily but that was normal, he was risking it daily. "I don't live in fear. I'm afraid for Harry but besides that there isn't much to fear anymore."

"Yes, you do. You live in fear of the press. You live in fear that something while be known about you and Harry. Something that you don't want people to know, or that something will be taken out of context and tell people bad stories about you and Harry."

"No, it's not that, though I really found it horrific when they were publishing all those horrible stories about me, Harry, Hermione and Ron but I'm way more concerned that things will get out that will give Death Eaters an idea."

"Still, you can't control what gets out. You can ask your friends and family to be careful but you can't force them to not speak at all. For all you know a reporter was at the Leaky and overheard Bill and me talking. We are both well known wizards so that's not a unreasonable idea. So if there was somebody listening along, they now know about your first experience with Quidditch, about that you drink more than your brothers and that you are one hard witch to deal with but also that your family loves you to death."

"You talked about all that?"

"I just asked Bill how he is doing, about how his married life is and about how his daughter is doing. He told me about what you did for Fleur and how thankful he was for that. And there is no shame in that, it was a conversation between old friends."

I sighed and realized that she was right. I couldn't imagine how I would react if I saw any of those stories on the front pages of the gossip magazines but I knew Gwen was right. Those things could happen and Harry and I had to learn to live with it. Things would get out.

"You're right of course." I sighed. "Maybe we have been a bit too controlling and too careful about those things."

"Don't worry about it, Gin. I have seen the things they have written about you and Harry, I would get scared as well. Hell, I did get scared in my first season, I was afraid people would find out that I had flaws but I learned quickly that you couldn't let it control your life. Can I give you some advise?"

"of course."

"I heard gossip about some friend of yours, a reporter, that guy that did the Potterwatch wanted your all life exclusive?"

"Lee? Yeah, he was joking about it. He said he wanted exclusives on our lives for his new show."

"Take that offer."

"What?"

"Give your friend the all exclusive. You trust him, you know you can trust him to speak only the truth and that he will be careful about releasing any potential dangerous information and if the world knows Lee gets his info directly from you they won't believe what the others will write."

"That would be the best solution." Elly suddenly said, I had noticed she had been following our conversation and I loved to get her opinion on things. She was like an favorite aunt I could always go to for advise.

"Maybe Harry will see it that way as well. I wouldn't mind giving Lee the exclusives. He is a really good friend."

After that the conversation stirred to happy things, our match. Everybody was relieved that we had won our first match. It was a good start and it gave everybody the motivation to win the next game.

It was almost seven in the evening when we all left the complex. I felt a bit bad for Harry. I knew he would be waiting for me to celebrate my first professional match and the fact that I had managed to score as well.

I quickly said goodbye to the team and apparated home.

I landed with my eyes closed and took a deep breath. I smelled cake. My mom's cake to be exact. I had expected that my family would be there and I knew I should be happy to be celebrating my first match with them but I'd rather hoped I would have had the rest of the evening alone with Harry.

I shook my head and walked up the path. I shouldn't be complaining, everybody wanted to celebrate for me. I should be thankful.


	52. The Party

_**I'm so sorry for this late update... I had a massive writers block for the last few weeks and needed to re-read the whole Harry collection before getting back into a writing mode... **_

_**I hope you all can forgive me... I have two more chapters of the happy life lined up. this one and the one about Ron and Hermione's wedding... after that it will get darker, more troubles and pains to deal with.**_

_**Please let me know what you think... I know it's not one of my best chapters but I wanted to give you all something...**_

* * *

**52. The Party**

6th of December, 1999

Believing Witch Weekly you would think that my life was one big party. Ever since the match against Puddlemere United they have had written stories about me, most of them were not very nice and were about the extensive partying I was doing according them.

Now, I honestly can say that at the best of times I felt that they were right, between birthday parties, team outings and planning a hen-party I did spend a lot of time partying.

But never as ridiculous as the way they made me look. They made me look like a out of control, booze driven party girl. They were doing serious damage to my reputation and the Holyhead Harpies publicity department were making extra hours to make it all right again. I really felt bad about it all.

As I had feared, somebody had overheard Gwen and Bill at the Leaky and spilled to the reporter of Witch Weekly and they worked from that feeble story. Apparently nobody in my family could talk freely without somebody trying to make money of it.

It angered Harry to no ends, he was so pissed off about it all that he asked Kingsley to write a new law that would control these things but Kingsley refused, he was too busy with reorganizing the ministry and law book that he just didn't have the time. Of course he was right but it didn't made things easier for us.

That's when I told Harry about Gwen's suggestion.

"_Dammit!" I heard Harry curse as we walked through Diagon Alley. We wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for the fact that we needed to find a perfect gift for Ron and Hermione, one for the wedding. Trips to Diagon alley were always hectic, one person would recognize either of us and it would result in some sort of mayhem. Today it was actually really quiet and we had some peace to find gifts._

_I looked up to see him glaring at a window of a shop. I walked up and look to find the offending thing. I wasn't even shocked anymore to see my face winking back at me. The headlines above it weren't surprising either. It said 'Harry's girl on the loose'. They always made me look not worthy of being the big hero's girl. _

_That was what made Harry most upset. _

"_Don't worry about it." I whispered and pulled him away from the window._

"_How can I not worry about it, they insult you! They write the most crazy things about you. It should be illegal."_

"_Harry, I don't care anymore. Nothing I do is ever good enough for them, why should we care about them." I said._

"_I care about it. I don't want people to think bad of you. Besides, it can harm your career."_

"_Gwen knows better than to believe those stories. She even came up with a solution a few weeks ago."_

"_Oh what?"_

"_She heard about Lee's proposition, she thinks we should take it."_

"_What proposition?"_

"_Him getting the exclusive on our lives."_

"_No way!" Harry yelled._

Of course after an other week of dealing with gossip and even questions from co-workers even Harry started to think about Gwen's idea. He still didn't like it very much but he could see the logic behind it. Just two weeks before the Hen and Stag party things got so bad that Harry gave in, he told me that he would invite Lee over to talk it through.

It was a fun evening as we had invited George and Angelina for dinner as well. The first part of the evening had been fun. We all had been laughing about the stories Lee and George told us about their time at Hogwarts. It appeared we didn't even knew half of what really happened.

"_Harry, I'm really enjoying myself and am really happy you invited me but I take it, it wasn't only for a social meeting?" Lee asked when Drooble served desert. Silence fell around us as Harry looked at Lee._

"_No, we haven't. There is something we would like to discus with you."_

_Lee nodded and made the motion that told Harry to go on._

"_You and the rest of the world must have noticed all the non-sense that has been written about us lately."_

"_Yes. I have even discussed it in my radio show." Lee said._

"_We have heard." Harry said with a smile. "Apparently many people are still interested in what we do."_

"_Very much so, you are still our worlds biggest hero, like it or not." Lee chuckled._

_Harry grimaced at that but he nodded anyway. I took his hand under the table and squeezed it softly. I knew he had a difficult time dealing with this all. I don't think he'll ever get used to being in the spotlight. I watched as he opened his mouth to speak but closing it again without making a sound. He turned to me, his eyes pleading me to speak up._

"_Remember you joking with me about you wanting an all exclusive?" I asked Lee._

"_Yeah, and I'm still expecting it!" _

"_Well, you get it." I said. A huge grin appeared on his face. "under a few conditions." I quickly added._

"_Ginny are you sure about this?" George asked._

"_Yeah, it's the only solution."_

"_What kind of conditions?" Lee asked._

"_You'll only speak about things we allow you to, no gossip, no rumors. Only if your listeners ask you about it. You'll only tell the truth. We will give you information, scoops and all when there is something to give."_

"_You can not under any circumstances release information about us that compromise our safety. Like the things I do for the ministry." Harry added. "When I needed it you will provide me with information that you can give me, tips, rumors and those things."_

"_And what do I get?" Lee asked carefully._

"_First hand news, like pregnancies, engagements, weddings, those kind of things, you are the only one to do private interviews if that is needed for something. You'll get conformation or denial on rumors. We will just have to work together on this." I answered._

_Lee thought about it for a while. We all knew that this would be big for Lee and his show but we also all knew that he would be bound by this deal and a reporter doesn't like to be bound._

"_Okay, I'll do it but you have to make a public statement that from now on I'm getting all the exclusives."_

"_We will, the only exception is the Quidditch thing, I can't just be silent all the time during press days, I'll only answer Quidditch related things like I do now."_

"_That's okay." Lee shrugged._

It had worked out brilliantly. We had closed the deal with Lee just two weeks ago and we all had only gotten positive responses. We had informed our family and friends about it first so that they wouldn't be surprised by the press release and after that we asked the ministry to release a statement about the deal.

For us it meant more peace, after a few days reporters just gave up on getting the scoop and left. Only Witch Weekly continued writing real rubbish.

For Lee it had been the best career move ever. After we released the statement his boss promoted his show. It was now named World Watch and was aired for two hours during dinner time, it was the prime time spot on the Wizard wireless.

His show still had the same seriousness as he had with Potter Watch during the war but now he had time to discus more things and play music. Lee used his time well, he still did the list of missing witches and wizards, he still did his topic on the search for Death Eaters and Greyback but he also focused on getting peace back into our world.

Within a week his show was the number one show on the wireless.

Still, Witch Weekly would have been right about my life being one big party if it wasn't for the nightmares and darkness that still haunts us.

All the fun we had was always casted in a shadow by rumors. Rumors of a new dark power that was quickly arising. Rumors ran through the wizarding world about the Death Eaters having a new leader again. One more reckless and dangerous than Voldemort had been.

Since my first Quidditch match two months ago Harry had been working almost non stop. Against all hope he still hadn't caught Umbridge or Greyback. Arn still wasn't able to work and though they had their suspicions they still couldn't eliminated the leak within the auror office.

All the while the Death Eaters had picked up some of their old activities, Harry got tips about new movements within their ranks. They were recruiting once more. Very selective, only the really skilled were taken, most of them talented witches and wizards that had just left school. It was hard to pinpoint what they were planning. Luckily the wizarding world stayed fairly in the dark about this, there hadn't been any murders or things like that since the last year. Greyback and his pack stayed silent. We all agreed that it was better that people knew as little as possible and took their time to recover from the last war but the old D.A. members and Order was on the front line of activity once again. Never again would we let the wizarding world fall into darkness.

I flipped through the pages of the magazine, there wasn't much interesting in it. Besides the front page story about me, they wrote about some new ways of cooking stew, about how to knit a proper winter scarf and some book reviews.

"Anything interesting?" Harry asked as he walked into the living room.

"Nah."

"I don't understand why you still read that piece of shit."

"They have reporters out in the field, they might catch something useful for you." I reasoned. Harry knew I was right, sometimes Witch weekly would write a story they think off as innocent or exciting that was providing us with useful information.

Last week they had done a story on old pure blood families and why they were so connected to the dark arts. It was one of those rare times they really did their homework and came up with a good article. It helped Harry to find the location of the Greyback manor that had eluded them forever. Sadly not with the needed results.

"How was your day?" I asked as he sat down next to me.

"Insane."Harry groaned. He sat down next to me and sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if we ever going to have the peace and quiet the world needs right now."

"Something new happened?"

"Nah, not really. I spend the day with Kingsley filtering through reports of our employees. Kingsley has members of every department gaining information, writing reports about rumors they hear, about possible evidence but most of them are useless and those that provide us with new information aren't good."

"At least nobody is ending up dead now. As long as they aren't killing yet, or aren't able to kill…." I said.

"I don't think it will be that easy, Gin. We still don't know who there are or what they want. I suspect Umbridge and Greyback are working together, one of them as the leader, the other as the right hand. All I know for sure is that they are trying to recruit. They even had the nerve to contact Draco Malfoy, asking him if he wanted to join."

"You're joking?" I gasped.

"No, sadly not. Draco wrote me this morning about it. Apparently someone has been very persistent, almost harassing him to pick up his place in the Death Eaters ranks once more."

"He won't, will he?"

"No, he wrote me with the request of protection for him and his mother. He is afraid they will place him under a imperius curse now that he has started at the advanced potion course in London."

"Understandable. Now that he is allowed to travel again he will be more vulnerable."

"Yes, still it's very worrisome that they have the nerve to contact the Malfoy's. Everybody knows they don't want anything to do anymore with the dark arts."

"I hope you'll find one of them soon and finish what they are starting." I sighed.

"Me too." Harry said. "Are you ready for tonight?"

"Yes, I have my bag packed, Kreacher has taking our clothes to Grimmauld place and Drooble has laid out your outfit for tonight in the bathroom. I have to be at Hermione's in fifteen minutes."

Harry nodded, he still looked a bit thoughtful. Suddenly he snapped his head towards me and looked very worried.

"What is it, Harry?"

"You will be careful tonight? Won't you?" He asked.

"Of course! Why do you ask?"

"Because I just realized that this is our first time out apart from each other ever since…You'll be spending it mostly in the muggle world, you won't be able to defend yourself so freely as you would in our world."

"Harry, I'm sure we will be alright. The only muggle with us is Hermione's mom, the rest of us know how to defend ourselves."

"I know, I'm just worried. I will be worried until we see each other again."

"You should have fun, Harry!" I said in fake anger.

"I know, I will…" He countered quickly.

I laughed and pulled him to me and kissed him. For more than six months we had been living together and it was still as special as it was in the beginning. The freedom just to sit at a table, talk about private things without worrying about being overheard and the freedom to be intimate in this way without my brothers barging in, was my bliss.

"It will be a great party tonight. I can't wait to see their faces at the grand finale." I whispered as I pulled away from him. "I'm going, I'll see you in a few hours."

"Do you have your wand?"

"Of course."

"Can I get an other kiss?" he asked.

"Of course." I laughed. I kissed him deeply and let him go. "you don't have to ask silly!"

"Just be careful and don't embarrass Hermione too much!"

"I won't, I'll leave that to her mother and mom." I laughed. With one last kiss I ran out the door. I knew Harry would be leaving as soon as he had showered and dressed in his party outfit, so I didn't felt too bad about leaving him alone so soon after he got home from work.

In general we had established the habit that we would give each other the time to tell how our days had been and enjoyed a bit of time together before dinner but on busy days like these it just wasn't supposed to happen.

I apparated to London and landed in the small play ground behind Hermione's house. Ron would be at the Burrow and the boys would gather there. Angelina and I would all gather at Hermione's place and apparate to Hermione's parents house where the rest was waiting. It would be the start of our evening.

Because I knew Hermione would freak out if I seemed unprepared and chaotic, I made a time schedule. I had written down when we had to be where and Angelina together with Hermione's mom had filled in how we were going to get there, our last stop was a small club in muggle London close to Grimmauld place. It was where we would meet the boys in a spectacular way.

"Ginny!" I heard Ange call behind me.

"Hey, ready for tonight?"

"Yeah, it will be so exciting. I'm so looking forward to that stripper pole lessons later tonight!"

"Yes, that would be so much fun. I have never done something like that before." I agreed.

"How did you think of something like that?"

"Would you believe if I told you it was Fleur's idea?"

"NO!" she gasped.

"Yeah, she said a lot of her French friends do it to stay in shape, like a work out."

"This world is getting crazier by the minute." Angelina said as she shook her head.

"Come on, lets get the bride-to-be ready." I said as walked towards the door.

A very pale and nervous looking Hermione opened the door.

"Girls, I'm not going, I… I … can't…"

"What's wrong?"

"I just can't… I don't like this…" Hermione stammered.

"What a nonsense, we didn't go through all this trouble to arrange the best evening ever for you and you now backing out." Angelina said angrily but Hermione just stood there in the hallway, she was as pale as a corpse, her lower lip was quivering and her eyes watery.

"Ange? Could you see if Trinkle has everything ready?" I asked slowly.

"Of course." Angelina said happily and she walked past Hermione without looking back.

I took Hermione's hand and pulled her into the living room.

"Ginny….I…" Hermione stuttered.

"Shhh." I hushed her and pulled her into a hug. "Hermione, you know we won't let anything bad happen to you, right?"

"Yes…" she whispered.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Do you trust me enough to know that I will let nothing happen to you."

"I'm not worried about being attacked." She protested.

"That's not what I meant. You know we have planned a night of fun." I told her. "You know that even if this wasn't your Hen-party you would have fun tonight, with friends and family."

"Maybe…" she sighed.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I had been prepared for this, I knew she would put up a fight before she would give in.

"Hermione, what is really bothering you about this?" I asked calmly.

She shook her head and wiped away the few tears that had spilled over.

"I don't know, Ginny. I'm freaking out. I don't like being the center of attention."

"But you are going to be the center of attention on your wedding as well." I argued.

"Yeah, but than Ron will be with me."

"And today we are with you." I countered.

"You know as well as I do that it is not the same." Hermione argued.

"I know, we are much better company." I joked. It got her laughing and relaxing a bit. "Hermione, we have been planning this for weeks, it would be such a sad thing if you didn't go."

Hermione sighed and hung her head.

"I know." She moaned. "okay, I will go along but I'm not going to wear a silly outfit!"

"No, but you are going to be dressed up in style for today." I said.

"What do you mean."

"Well… As it will be about your last night out as a free girl, I think we should show all men what they will be loosing when you wed Ron." I said innocently.

"Gin, I don't like that tone of your voice, or the look on your face." Hermione growled.

"Oh, come on, it's time to let loose a bit, you can be you for all your life, tonight be a bit of a wild Hermione, okay?"

"I really don't like this…" Hermione groaned. "But alright, what did you have in mind?"

I smiled and got up.

"Come on, Trinkle should have laid something out for you."

With a sigh she got up and followed me upstairs muttering about elves. I knew she was irritated by the fact that I had asked Trinkle to select some clothes for Hermione, she really had a hard time dealing with the fact that she owned a house-elf now and asking Trinkle to do anything. We had our arguments about the treatment of elves, since we gave her the house.

In her eyes Drooble and Kreacher were still doing too much for us. Not that she would ever accuse us of mistreating them, she just thought it was a crime that wizarding families used house-elves at all. She wanted to see them free and happy but slowly she learned that an house-elf wouldn't be happy until they had a family to take care off but that didn't made things easier for her.

"You can't be serious?" Hermione gasped when she saw the set of clothing.

"Nope, we are all wearing something similar to that, even your mother… yours are just a bit more sexy."

"A bit?" Hermione yelped. She turned to look at me. "You're just wearing jeans and sweater."

"For now, Angelina has my clothes with her. Where is she anyway?"

"Here!" somebody called from the bathroom.

"Ange?"

"Yeah, Trinkle said this was where I could get ready." She called back as she peeked around the door.

"It's okay." Hermione said faintly.

"Oh, Ginny here are your clothes." Ange said and threw a bag towards me.

"Thanks. Lets get ready."

Hermione wasn't happy, that much was clear to me. She stared at the skirt and low cut blouse with complete horror covering her face. I hoped that when the night got on she would be more into the whole celebration.

Though I had my doubts about our first activity. Maybe a dildo party wasn't the best ice-breakers but it was too late to change plans anyway. I prayed that Hermione's mother could make her daughter see the fun of it.

I had to admit that Hermione's outfit was a lot shorter and sexier than ours. It was short and thanks to Angelina's shrinking abilities it fitting her tighter than a pair of stockings. Ange and I were wearing skirts as well, also quite short but not as formfitting. Besides we were both used to wearing skirts like this, Hermione only wore pencil skirts for meetings and official things.

We apparated to a small park close to Hermione's parents house.

"We are going to my parents?" Hermione asked

"Yes, the start of the party." I nodded.

"Will my dad be there?"

"No he is out with the boys today."

"Really?" Hermione gasped.

"Yes. Harry invited him along."

Hermione's mom opened the door for us and called us in.

"Come on girls! The others are here already!"

We rushed forward and quickly greeted Hermione's mom at the door.

"Hermione, you look so lovely, Ron will have a heart attack if he sees you in this." She gushed as she hugged her daughter. Hermione's face was priceless. It was clear she didn't agree with her mother.

In the small but cozy living room were the others, Luna, Fleur, and to my annoyance mom were chatting happily to each other. We had to invite her as well, I didn't want to but as the boys started their Stag party at the Burrow, Harry practically begged my to invite mom, to have her away from the house. I couldn't say 'no' and as Fleur had pointed out it wouldn't be nice to mom either.

But I was oh so worried about our activities for tonight and what mom would think of it. All activities were laced with sexuality, all to prepare the blushing bride for her wedding night so to say but mom was so conservative when it came to sexuality and sensuality that I saw only problems.

"Drinks?" Mrs. Granger called over the group as we finished our greetings.

"Please." I sighed.

"I have asked Fleur to bring in the good stuff." Mrs. Granger said with a smile. She set down a tray with glasses and a bottle of elf made wine. Fleur and Hermione's mom had been good friends since the ceremonial at school, I knew Fleur visited the Grangers regularly after her work.

Mrs. Granger poured in for everybody and handed out the glasses. Hermione started to protest but with one stern look from her mom she took the glass without further arguing.

"Ginny!" she called after two sips.

"Yeah."

"I trust that you will get me home in one piece tonight! You know I can't handle alcohol that well."

"Don't worry Hermione, I'll get you in a bed in one piece tonight." I smiled. I was happy that Fleur started a conversation with Hermione at that point so that I didn't had to tell her that it wasn't her own bed she would sleep in tonight. Harry and I had arranged something special for her and Ron.

"Anything new?" Luna asked me as we sat down.

"No, not really. With you?"

"I got news from dad, he isn't going to come back for Christmas, he is enjoying the wizard community in Greece very much."

"He's in Greece?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, he has been traveling a bit. He goes from one spa or health clinic to the other. He says he is feeling restless and wants to see things. Dad always liked traveling a lot."

"Greece isn't that far from Romania." I mused.

"No, Charlie and I are going to him for the holidays. Though your mom wouldn't like that much."

"Oh, don't worry about her. There have been years when Charlie wasn't home for Christmas."

Hermione's mom brought in some small cupcakes she personally made and we chatted for a while. The woman who was going to do the Dildo party would be there at half past five and I had to prepare the group before that.

"Okay, everybody!" I called over the group, they all fell silent. "In a few minutes we are starting the first part of our exciting night. If everybody want to grab a chair and sit down. Make sure Hermione is in the middle and can't go anywhere!" I joked, earning me a few chuckles and a death glare from Hermione.

Right on cue the doorbell rang and Mrs. Granger went to open it. She came back with a young woman, about Fleur's age, she seemed to know Mrs. Granger pretty well and from short snippets of their conversation I realized she was a neighbor.

"Everybody, this is Mandy Flister. She lives across the street and she is here to host a special party. I'll let her explain it herself." Mrs. Granger said loudly.

Mandy introduced herself to everybody while Mrs. Granger poured a glass of soda for Mandy and swapped the bottle of elf-made wine for a muggle version.

"Now that I know your names this will go a lot easier." Mandy started. "If I understand correctly only a few of you know what I am here for."

"Yes." I nodded. "Only me, Ange and Mrs. Granger know."

"Oh, good. This is always much more fun when it comes as a surprise. It minimizes the shame and anxiety."

She turned around a pulled up a huge metal suitcase. She opened it and pulled out a small muggle printed book, a magazine of sorts and passed it around. I glanced down on my copy and realized that it was a catalogue.

It was silent for a while, I watched everybody as they looked at the magazine. Fleur and Luna chuckled. Mom frowned, she looked confused, I wondered if she even knew what dildo's were. And then it came, a moan from Hermione.

"No, oh no. Ginny…" she moaned. "How could you do this!"

"Hey, it's not my fault, this wasn't my idea!"

"Yeah, right!"

"No, honey, it wasn't her idea." Mrs. Granger spoke up, she sounded rather amused. Hermione looked at her, first angry and slowly shocked.

"Mom?" Hermione gasped.

"Yeah, I know Mandy for a while now and I know what she does for a living, I have always wondered about such a party. Ginny thought it was a nice start of the evening."

Hermione groaned again.

"I don't see the use of this." She argued. "I'm getting married for heavens sake! I won't need these things."

"Oh, but there you go wrong." Mandy said calmly. "Dildo's and vibrators can be such a good addition to the foreplay. It can be really enjoyable and if you don't use it with your husband or boyfriend than you will at least have something to fall back on when he is away for a business trip or something."

"I don't see Ron will agree with that."

"I think he will. Remember that magazine he gave you last winter?" I challenged. Hermione blushed brightly but didn't argue anymore and Mandy started her sale story.

The dildo party was actually really fun, to my horror and surprise my mom seemed to know what dildo's and vibrators were. I guess she was young once too. Once everybody got really into it, thanks to Mandy and the wine, even Hermione started to enjoy herself. We made sure that she wasn't always the centre of attention and our jokes. In many cases it were the women that were already married that had to suffer the jokes.

Though I had been out in the muggle world a lot, Harry wanted to see and show me a lot, I was still amazed at the things muggles invented. All the different types of toys for women was impressive.

The party lasted for a good hour and a half. At the end we all bought something from Mandy. We had agreed to buy a present for Hermione and if we wanted something for ourselves. Though I looked away when mom bought something, I just couldn't stand the horror, I'd rather faced Greyback alone, we all enjoyed teasing each other with the things we bought.

That was until somebody pointed out that almost all the women would use the things when having sex with one of my brothers… TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

"Okay!" I called out after Mandy left. "Ladies, please!"

All the giggling fell silent.

"Thank you. We have about ten minutes before our taxi arrives to take us to our restaurant. So please get your things together. So we can be outside on time."

Everybody scrambled for the bathroom and their bags while I helped Mrs. Granger with cleaning up the room.

"I'm happy Hermione enjoyed it." Mrs. Granger said to me as we walked towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, me too. She was so panicked when Ange and I arrived at her place."

"I thought that would be the case. She is so much like her father, he too doesn't handle the spotlight or attention very well."

"Hmmm, I think with Hermione it's also the not knowing what is to come. She doesn't really liked to be surprised."

"No, that she doesn't. Do you have anything else planned that might cause issues?"

"Yeah, the last thing for tonight. Which of course is the most important thing she has to do or my cute little plan will fail immensely."

Hermione's mom nodded but didn't ask what my plan was. At least someone liked to be surprised.

Soon we were all standing outside waiting for the taxi. Hermione's mother had been so kind to arranged this one for me. According to her it needed either a telephone or a connection to the world wide web, what ever that is. She had tried and failed to explain it to me.

Within minutes a car arrived, it was bigger and longer than I had ever seen before. I didn't know muggles made cars this long.

"A limousine?" Hermione gasped. She looked at me but I pointed innocently to her mother.

"Yeah, honey, it will only be your Hen-night once, so we better do it properly."

Us witches were in real awe. Inside the car resembled a trendy night club. Music was played not too loudly, lights were playing around, there was a fridge with bottles of different liquors and ever seat had a small table with glasses on it. We all stepped in and sat down, the driver closed the door behind us and took off.

Mrs. Granger had told me that it would take about forty-five minutes to drive to the restaurant. So we had some time to chat.

"Champagne, anyone?" Mrs. Granger called out and held up a large bottle.

Besides Hermione, Fleur and Ange nobody really knew what muggle champagne was but we all agreed to have a drink. Hermione explained that the champagne wizards made was almost the same, the muggle one wasn't as sweet and had more bubbles in it.

"I really love champagne. It reminds me of home." Fleur said happily and went on to explain that the best muggle champagne came from France and that her father was one of the few wizards who had a stock of bottles amongst his famous fire-whiskeys and elf-wines.

"So, you know what the men are doing tonight?" Ange asked.

"Yep. They are having fun as well."

"What are we going to do?" Hermione asked quickly.

"Well, right now we are going to one of your favorite restaurants in London. After that we are going to a night club in London for some further activities. I'm not going to tell you any details yet."

"So you won't tell me what we are going to do?"

"No, it has to be a surprise." I said with a smile.

Everybody started to talk and soon chatter and laughing rang through the car. Even Hermione joined in as she finally had let go of her shame or reservations. Of course in a good hen-night everybody was talking about the upcoming wedding, I couldn't help but thinking about the negative side of planning this wedding. Harry and his team of aurors were already so busy but this wedding was like my first match a draw for Death Eaters, all members of the resistance would be there. To the aurors office it was a nightmare.

"You are awfully silent." Mom commented. "Is something wrong, my child?"

"No, nothing is wrong, mom. I was just thinking about the wedding."

"You weren't thinking happy things about it." Mom said softly.

"I was thinking about the nightmare it was for the auror office. Bill and Fleur's wedding proved that nobody can guarantee the safety of it all. I'm just worried."

Mom nodded and wrapped her hand around mine.

"Harry and Kingsley know what they are doing, we just have to trust them."

"Oh, I do. I know they are working a lot to get it all safe but I can't help but hoping that they will catch Umbridge or Greyback soon."

"Me too." Mom nodded.

I was thankful that Luna and Ange pulled me and mom back into the happy conversations that were going on, I never really wanted to dwell on those negative thoughts. I'm more of the I'll-deal-with-it-when-it-comes person.

Soon we arrived at the restaurant. A small Indonesian style place. According to Mrs. Granger Hermione loved her curry's and we had decided since it was her night we would go to her favorite restaurant.

"Yes!" I heard Hermione squeal as she got out of the car. "The temple of good food."

I laughed as I heard her so happy. So far everything we had planned had been good.

When everybody walked to the door the driver handed me a large bag, it was something he had picked up for me from Harry and he told me that he would be back in two and half hours to bring us to the night club. Which roughly meant that we would arrive there around half past ten, our appointment there was at that time.

The restaurant was great. It was almost as if you walked into an other country. An exotic country. We were seated in a corner that stood completely apart from the rest of the restaurant, it was cozy and really nicely decorated. Large sheets of turquoise, pink, green and gold hang from the ceiling making it tent like.

Everybody ordered drinks and were given a menu.

"Ladies. Wait a second!" I stopped the loud chatting and got the attention. "As it is Hermione's night, her last party as a unwedded woman and as this is her favorite restaurant I think we should let Hermione pick out all the food."

"Yeah, that a good idea!" Angelina agreed and the rest followed.

"So I pick out the dishes?" Hermione asked hesitant.

"Yeah, you probably know better what we would like than we do ourselves."

Hermione grinned, I was sure she knew it was the truth. She took one of the menu's and scanned through it. When the waitress returned with a bottle of champagne and glasses Hermione was ready to order.

To be honest I have no idea what she ordered but it sounded like a lot.

"What did you order?" Mom asked her.

"An appetizer, the main course and dessert." Hermione smiled. "I'm sure you all will love it."

A waiter came to our table and placed small baskets of a kind of muggle chips on the table and asked if we wanted the champagne bottled opened. It was an art how he opened the bottle, not one drop was spilled.

When the waited left the chatter started.

"Hermione have you planned everything for the wedding?" Fleur asked.

"No not yet. We have to finalize a lot of things."

"Like what?" Mom asked.

"The cake, flower arrangements, tables settings, seating arrangements. Just small things."

"You are holding it at the Burrow right?" I asked because I was sure mom would arrange everything as it was in her back yard.

"Yes but I wanted to arrange everything myself, or at least together with Ron. Molly has just been helping me, it's a lot to arrange."

I nodded silently. I was surprised that mom had let go of her almost dictatorial style of planning a party in her garden.

"If you get married, where do you want to have your wedding?" Luna asked me.

"I don't know. Harry might have an idea but he still have to ask me first."

"What is he waiting for anyway? I thought he would ask you as soon as you were out of school." Angelina asked.

"I don't know. First, I was afraid, I think, or at least not ready for it but now… He says he has it all planned out in his mind but maybe my hesitation has him afraid that I would say no."

"That doesn't sound like Harry." Fleur said.

"No, Harry will ask you, Ginny. If he says he has a plan, he has." Luna nodded.

"Yeah, I do not doubt him." I said.

"Do you really want to get married, than?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, not right now but in a few years time." I nodded.

"What about you and George?" Luna asked Angelina. Angelina almost choked on one of the chips. She turned bright red and stuttered but didn't say really anything.

"Yeah, Ange, what about you and George. You are much older than me, I think you should marry first." I teased her.

"I don't think so." She breathed.

"Why not?" Fleur asked.

"Don't know, it has never really been on my mind, neither on George's I think. He has never talked about it."

Suddenly waitresses appeared and served the best smelling appetizers. We all got a small dish with five different small bites. Hermione explained to us which one were really spicy and which could be eaten safely.

It was really delicious but as Hermione had warmed very spicy. It turned out the chips that they had served was perfect to take the heat away from your mouth.

After the first round I called the attention of the table to me.

"Okay, everybody! I have something special for Hermione." I picked up the bag that had been handed to me. "While we had our dildo party, the boys have been out on an activity on their own. Their task was to go out in muggle London's prime shopping street and buy a small gift for the bride. It was in the idea of how well they know the bride. These are the gifts they bought. They had a few rules, the first one was 'no books' and the second one was that they had to buy something she could and would want to use on her wedding day, wedding night or honeymoon."

Everybody laughed at the sound Hermione made. We all could see the boys thinking up things for that and I was really curious to see if my ideas had been correct.

"They have written their name on the wrapping paper. Here is a paper and a pen, you have to write down the name of that person and give them a mark for the gift and how useful or nice you think it is." I said as I handed Hermione the gifts.

While the staff cleared away the table and brought a new bottle of champagne Hermione unwrapped the first gift. It was a gift from my dad, I was curious what he had bought, probably something really practical and fascinating to him. To my great surprise it were sunglasses and a very fashionable one. My dad did good.

"Wow, I love this." Hermione breathed. See put the pair on and looked around. "How do I look?"

"Very pretty." Fleur said.

Hermione smiled and placed the sunglasses back in it's cover and wrote down a score on the paper I gave her. When she finished she picked up the next gift.

"I'm honestly worried about this one." She said to me. it was a gift from George.

"Don't worry about it Hermione, it must be something muggle so it won't be a product from the joke shop." I told her. "besides the one who fails this assignment faces severe consequences."

Carefully, like she was holding something that could explode Hermione opened the package. I was sure all men had bought nice things or at least what they thought Hermione would find nice, the rules Harry had laid out had been clear, the one who lost this challange would face something horrible. George had done pretty good as well, if you remind yourself that it is George you are talking about. He bought Hermione a very skimpy bikini.

"Wow." Hermione sighed as she held it up. "He got the size right."

"What do you think? Do you like it?" Angelina pressed.

"I don't know but I'm sure Ron will like it."

Bill's gift was good as well, he had bought her a small pink muggle camera. Charlie had gone a bit wilder and bought her a small white clutch that seriously matched her wedding dress.

"My man scores high points." Luna breathed in my ear. I couldn't help but agree.

Hermione opened Harry's gift next. I wondered what he had come up with, we had already spend so much time to find a wedding gift for Ron and Hermione, this had to be something small and not really expensive, something Harry had always issues with.

It was the biggest gift but I think so far the cheapest, Harry had bought a whole set of romantic candles and bath lotion.

"That's really sweet of Harry." Hermione whispered as she looked over all the candles.

"Hmmm." I nodded "I'm surprised he can up with something like that, normally I have to tell him a thousand times that you don't like expensive gifts. He has done great this time."

"Open you father's one." Her mother asked excitedly. The gift from her father was a square fairly flat box wrapped in a pink shiny paper.

"I have seen that paper before." Angelina whispered in my ear with a giggle. I couldn't remember ever seeing something like that but by the sound of Ange's voice it was going to be something good.

Hermione carefully opened the gift, a flat box appeared, it was white blue and it made Mrs. Granger gasp and than giggle.

"Is this what I think it is?" Hermione asked completely shocked. Her mother only giggled and nodded.

"Open the box, Hermione." Luna pressed.

With her face contorted in complete horror she carefully lifted the lid of the box. We all leaned in to have a good look.

"Oh…My…!" Hermione chocked.

In the box lay a pearly white negligee with matching garret belt, tights and thong. It was all beautiful decorated with lace.

"pffff. Your dad has taste." Angelina whistled.

"I say." Fleur agreed.

"That's even more beautiful than the one he bought me for our wedding!" Mrs. Granger said.

"He bought you a lingerie set for your wedding?" Mom squealed.

"Yes. He thought with all the chaos I would forget getting something like that, he was right though, I had never thought about what would go under the dress."

"That's so sweet." Mom sighed.

"Sweet! Sweet! My dad bought me a lingerie set for my wedding night, knowing fully well what will happen to his little girl!" Hermione almost screamed.

"But it's so beautiful." Her mother argued.

"But it's from dad!"

"My dad wouldn't even dare to think of the idea of lingerie." Fleur mused.

"Mine neither, he would have a heart attack at the idea of going into a lingerie shop." Ange said.

"Arthur doesn't like these shops either." Mom sighed again.

"I think it's stunning Hermione, is the size right?" I asked.

Hermione carefully glanced into the box.

"It is, how did he know?"

"I can tell you that. Your father is very creative, he'll just walk into a shop ask the sales woman for help, he'll describe you. Probably point out a girl that has the same body type as you and than tell the sales woman for what kind of occasion it is." Her mother explain. "He probably hasn't even really seen what he bought."

Hermione shook her head and sighed.

"Seriously when I see my dad I would have a word with him. This is so embarrassing."

"There is one more gift." I said softly as I handed her Ron's gift.

While the waitress brought in the food for the main course Hermione opened a small package from Ron.

"Oh!" Hermione sighed. We all glanced at the package in her hand, there was a small note next to it. It said, _your something blue. _Inside the gift was a beautiful small tiara that would hold her veil. It was very Hermione, not too much glitter, not too big, just really simple and small silver with small sapphires.

"Wow, that is beautiful." Mrs. Granger sighed.

"Yes, it is." Hermione nodded.

It was clear to say that Ron had won this challenge by far. Hermione was honestly touched by his gift. When the waitresses finished serving the food Hermione round up her scores for the gifts.

When she handed me the paper I quickly scanned it. To my surprise she had her father loosing. The poor man wouldn't be happy.

"Tell me Ginny, what did I do to my father?" Hermione sighed.

"Oh no, I won't tell you, no way!" I said as I shook my head. "You'll have to ask him yourself."

"That's mean you know."Hermione said with a glare.

"Hey, I shouldn't have known anything remember. I only know because we coordinated some stuff." I defended myself.

"Yeah, yeah." Hermione sighed. "You know how evil it is of you to keep us in the dark."

"You'll thank me for it later, now let us eat. I'm hungry." I laughed.

After Hermione took some time to explain all the dishes to us we delved in and had a great feast. The talk was good, the drink was good and the food was delicious. It was a really nice dinner, everybody had something to talk about and non were related to magic or the darkness that was creeping back into the wizarding world, for a night we forgot it all.

"The taxi should arrive here soon to take us to our next location." I said as we finished our dinner. I got up and went to the desk to get our bill paid and gave the note with the scores to the hostess, she agreed to hand it to Harry when he stopped by on his way to the club. Within ten minutes the limo arrived and brought us to our next destination. It was a small nightclub just a few minutes away from Grimmauld place. I said goodbye to the driver and handed him a note with an address to which he could send the bill. When we all got out the door to the back entrance was held open for us by a very large man.

"What are we going to do here?" Hermione asked as we walked into a dressing room.

"You all are in for an evening of pole dancing classes." An excited voice said. It belonged to a young woman that showed her face around the corner of a changing booth. "Please wait a second, I'm almost ready."

Hermione turned to glare at me.

"There is no way on earth I'm going to flaunt around a stripper pole in a bar." She hissed at me.

"Ow, Hermione it will be fun, in France it's the big new thing with muggle women to get in shape." Fleur said excitedly.

"Have you done it before?" Ange asked.

"Yeah, a friend took me to one of her classes, it's really tiring and good for your body shape."

"Do not forget fun!" the woman said coming out of the changing booth. She was dressed in a pair of short shorts and a tank top. "I'm Ellen, I'll be your coach for this evening."

She shook hands with everybody and probably noticed that we all had been drinking a bit.

"Now, I know that pole dancing is something that many consider to be dirty, sexual and something low-life, for strippers but in some parts of the world, France and more mainland European countries it is slowly changing into a new work-out hype." Ellen explained. "there is a reason woman are enjoying this work out a lot. It is really hard on your body, so you get in shape fairly quickly, it is fun to do and next to that it makes women feel sexy. It's something sensual and sexy to do, it makes women more confident."

That had Hermione smile a bit, I was happy to see that amount of booze she had worked it's miracles on her.

"So for tonight, I'll give you a bit of an introduction, I'll learn you a few moves, than you all have half an hour to get a routine in your head and than you'll dance on your favorite song alone on stage. Of course the bride to be goes last, so she has the focus off all her friends on her."

Hermione blushed tomato red but she didn't object.

"Sounds like fun, right?" Ellen said happily. "Ginny and Fleur have send me appropriate clothes for all of you, so I want you all to change while I get you all something to drink."

Everybody, besides my mom, was excited and got changed quickly. I had Drooble and Kreacher raid everybody's closets for shorts and tank tops, for Mrs. Granger and Mom I had them find something a bit more age and figure appropriate and for Hermione I had a really short skirt and tank. The skirt had also a hotpants worked into it so she didn't feel too exposed.

Mom glanced in the bad with her name on and raised her eyebrow. She looked at me and Fleur again with a small glare. It made Fleur giggle.

"I guess your mom just started to like me a bit less." Fleur whispered.

"Don't worry about it, I'm still the one that has organized this, she'll take it out on me." I muttered.

Sudden my bracelet glowed warm and I looked down, '_main course finished, see in ninety minutes_.' I smiled to myself, the D.A. juwellery became more handy than I ever thought. I send him a short message back. '_just getting changed, Moine is scared_!' I was sure Harry would laugh at that. I looked up at the clock, Harry and the boys would be here before Hermione was alone on stage. They would have to wait for a few minutes.

I quickly hurried out of the booth in search of Ellen. When I found her I quietly asked her if she could arrange to make it seem to the boys that they have to wait in line because it is so busy. She promised me that the bouncers were in on the whole thing and that everything would be arranged.

The pole dance workout was really awesome. I never thought that something like that would be so hard on your muscles. I wondered if I should tell Gwen about it, but thought better of it after half an hour, she had enough things to torture us with.

"Sway your hips a bit more, Hermione!" Ellen called from the front. "Try to make yourself feel sexy."

Hermione had been, like my mom, a bit stiff during the whole workout. I was standing next to her and saw that every time she tried to let go of her shame it would come back tenfold and had her stiffen and blushing.

After about an hour Ellen called it quits and led us to the backstage area.

"Okay, I have a few books with songs in our collection here, please pick out on of your favorite songs, one that makes you feel sexy and want to dance and try to think about the moves you could use.

To m y surprise Ellen took Hermione apart into her office, with a wink my direction she closed the door behind her.

"What's up with that?" Ange asked.

"I don't know, perhaps she wanted to try and talk some sense into Hermione. She has to be more relaxed when she goes on stage." I muttered.

"Why are you so focused on getting Hermione to do the pole dance solo?" Fleur asked.

I could have hit myself, I really wanted the arrival of the men to be a surprise for everybody but I probably hadn't been as secretive as I could have been. I sighed and looked up from the list with songs.

"Alright, I'll tell you all but please Hermione can't know anything!"

Everybody nodded with a big grin.

"Urgh, I should have you all make an unbreakable vow." I groaned. "Anyway, the men will arrive here in about thirty minutes. Just as Hermione will do her solo routine. The club will be lightened in such a way that she can't see anyone coming in."

"Hermione will kill you if you have her dance like that for all the men. Her father… Harry… George… she won't forgive you." Mrs. Granger said.

"I know, I have thought of that. It will be only in front of us and Ron. I have the bouncer letting them in one at the time, claiming it to be busy, the moment Hermione gets on stage he'll let Ron in, Harry will make sure Ron goes in first. We make sure Ron doesn't make a sound and have in sit in front of the stage, by the time the song finishes Ron will be visible to Hermione."

"that's brilliant!" Angelina laughed.

"Yeah, that's so going to get you killed." Fleur agreed.

"Hey, I thought I was your favorite sister in law!"

"You are, but I'm so happy you didn't plan my hen-party." Fleur chuckled.

I shook my head an laughed with them.

Half an hour later the first of us was on stage, from the side we watched Mrs. Granger dance to a loud song. She was good at it, Hermione just stared at her mother in awe.

We had drawn straws to see who would go first, I was after Mrs. Granger. I had picked out a general song, I didn't know any muggle music and asked Angelina for advise. When the tunes started I knew she had selected the perfect song. It was loud and felt like a heart beat. The moves came freely as I followed the sound of the beat. I slowly began to understand why women liked it, it did make you feel powerful and sexy.

I couldn't watch mom. I just couldn't, though Ange gave me a play-by-play account of it, it was just to awkward to see my mom trying to be sexy. However watching Fleur was almost erotic. I guessed it had something to do with her Veela parts but gods that woman could move. If I was a male I would have been wanking myself.

Around all the younger women agreed.

"I know what got your brother so enthralled by her. I'm sure she dances for him often." Angeline whispered. To my surprised Hermione and Luna nodded.

To my surprise Fleur's demonstration worked miracles on Hermione, she actually seemed excited to go up and do her routine. As soon as she stepped up and her song started I ran to the door, just in time to catch Ron arguing with the bouncer. I smiled at the tall guy and grabbed my brother by his arm.

"Don't try to fight, brother dear." I hissed his ear. Mrs. Granger was quick to followed and covered his mouth so he wouldn't started Hermione. Together we pushed him towards the chair in front of the stage. "Look." I whispered.

His eyes widen in shock as he saw Hermione dance. Slowly Mrs. Granger and I released him and walked back to the bar. The other girls joined us to watch Hermione finally let go of her stiff and passive nature. I was so pleased that we had finally reached that.

When the song ended Hermione turned bright red and hid her face, Ron stood up and applauded for her. It was only than that she noticed he was there. We all laughed as her mouth fell open and her eyes scanned for the other men.

I waved at the bouncer to let the rest of them in so Hermione could see where they were.

And than the party really started. The music was turned up, drinks and small snacks were served.

While we all greeted each other and talked about the day I noticed Hermione and Ron sneaking away to the backstage area.

"Let them." Harry whispered to me.

"I wasn't planning on going after them." I murmured. I looked up at him with a smile. "How was your evening?"

"So much fun. Yours?"

"Brilliant, everything worked out perfectly."

"Yeah, you got Hermione alone on that stage." Harry chuckled. "How much alcohol did you use on her?"

"Just as much as I had." I chuckled. "I don't know what happened but after Fleur's performance Hermione was completely into it."

"I'm sure watching Fleur was something special, especially if she gave into her Veela parts." Harry chuckled. I pored him roughly in his side, feigning insult, but laughed along with him.

"It sure was."

"When I told Bill about why we were here he almost demanded to see it." Harry laughed.

After an hour or so Ron and Hermione joined the party, slightly flustered and with wild hair nobody had a doubt about what they have been doing.

Slowly we talked, drank and danced the night away. It was around four in the morning when we were walking towards Grimmauld place. We all had way too much to drink and need each other for support.

"You… know… Gin…" Hermione slurred.

"What?"

"You never told me what they did to my dad for loosing."

Harry and Ron laughed loudly.

"Hermione, I don't think you want to know." Harry chuckled.

"Why?"

"Too embarrassing." Ron quickly said.

"Oh, will you tell me?" She asked Ron.

"No you'll have to ask your dad, but I doubt he will tell you." Ron said, he tried to be serious but he couldn't hide the small smile and Hermione noticed.

"That bad, uh?"

"yep." Harry and Ron said together.

We reached Grimmauld place and Kreacher held the door open for us. The sweet house elf had made hangover potions for everybody and order us to drink it before going to sleep. I barely managed to empty the vial before dozing off.

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**_If you want to know what they did to Mr. Granger... wait till the next chapter...it has something to do with a wedding gift..._**


	53. The Wedding

**Pfff... long long chapter...Ron and Hermione's wedding. Just don't expect anything really romantic, the fluff will have to be an out-take.**

**I'm sorry but I haven't edited this chapter much, let me know if I made too many mistakes, than I'll remove them.**

**Enjoy and please Review!**

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**53. The Wedding**

Harry's POV.

I stood hidden in the darkness of the trees, behind me was a thick forest, sounds were coming from it but I paid as little attention as I could. I strained my eyes to see what was going on in the house down the hill. I saw people moving behind the windows, the light from inside gave me a clear view of their faces. Umbridge was there, so was Greyback and Mulciber. I recognized those three but there were a lot I had never seen before.

Next to me, Peter breathed out slowly.

"There is nothing in the woods, sir." He whispered. Peter Lewis was one of our newest auror's, he had been in training before Riddle took over but because he was muggle born he had been send to that damned island by Umbridge. After he had a while to recover he asked me if he could join the training again, he had only two months to finish and a good incentive to catch Umbridge. He wanted revenge.

Though I had learned that revenge wasn't always the best incentive it worked well for him and after a mental and health check he was considered a part of the team. This was his last month in training and I had decided to take him along to one of my many scouts.

"I expected as much." I murmured. "They are all there. Umbridge, Greyback, Mulciber, Jugson and quite a few I do not know." I nodded towards the house down the hill at the edge of a cliff. We were in the eastern part of Scotland, on a cliff next to the beach. Only less than half a mile away was a thick old forest and it was the perfect shelter for the long hours of surveillance.

I found this place two days after the Stag party, purely by accident actually. I had followed a wizard that I expected to be involved in the Death Eaters activity up to the north of Scotland, where he made a surprising turn to the east, I lost him close to this forest and scouted the area, hoping to find out where he had gone too. After a while I was met by a strong protective shield it was very dark magic that held it up and realized that I found one of the Death Eaters hide out.

Together with Bill, I had worked to break through the shield. The hole we created in it wasn't big and was really sensitive, Bill thought it was wise not to bring too many people in, he thought they might notice the breach of too many travelled through it.

Ginny hadn't been really happy with me, since I had found the hide-out I had been away during the evenings and sometimes whole nights. I tried to be home with dinner but many times I just got caught up in my work. Next to that I was still busy with the rebuild of the house in Godric's Hollow. It was almost finished and the last details were to be decided on. I had asked Ben Gill to have it all on a hold until after the holidays.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Peter?"

"Shouldn't we be going?"

"Why?" I asked surprised. It was in the middle of the night, again, my new watch said it was just after two. Ginny would be angry and asleep already so I considered that it was better to take my losses and gather information now I'm here anyway.

"Well, it's two in the morning and you have to be up and ready for the wedding at eight. Don't you need sleep?" Peter asked carefully.

"Oh, shit!" I yelped. I had totally forgotten about the wedding. I had been present at the rehearsal dinner yesterday of course, as the best man I had to be but after that it had totally slipped my mind. "Ginny, will kill me." I groaned. "We better go." I whispered.

Peter nodded and followed me silently through the thick forest out of the shield so we could apparate home.

"What do you think they are doing?" Peter asked me as he pointed over his shoulder.

"I don't know. It looks like they are planning something." I whispered.

"How can we find out what?"

"I don't know yet. I'll think of something. It seemed that something big was going on in there."

"Do you think they will attack the wedding, that they are planning that?"

"I can't say, you'd think they would have learned from the last time they attacked a Weasley wedding, they didn't achieve anything. I think Umbridge is more careful than that but you just never know." I sighed.

"The security will be tight and this time we are sure they haven't infiltrated the Minister's office." Peter tried to be encouraging.

"That might be true but there is still a leak within the ministry. I'm sure that person is spilling a lot on information."

"What ever happens we are well prepared, the wedding will be as safe as possible." Peter said with a smile.

"Yeah, you are right. I really have to go. I'll see you tomorrow for the inspection round at the Burrow, right?"

"Yes, sir."

With that both Peter and I apparated. As I landed in front of the Summer house I thought about Peter, he was a good man. I couldn't deny that at first I had my doubts but that had only been caused by his first name, I don't think I will ever really get over my trust issues with people named Peter or Tom. Still I was happy to have the man on my side, he was brilliant with cursed objects, almost as good as Severus was. Peter had spend all his school life studying the dark arts to learn more about magic and why the dark arts ran so deep in the lives of the pure blooded.

Drooble met me at the door and took my bag and coat.

"Goodnight, master Harry." He said sleepy.

"Hello Drooble. You really shouldn't have to wake up for letting me in, you know."

"It's my job." The elf said.

"I know but if you ever wanted to continue sleeping, I can take really good care of myself for on night."

"I know, master Harry but it's still my job to take good care of you." Drooble said with a sleepy smile. "Mistress Ginny left you a note on your pillow and your suit for tomorrow is ready as well."

I looked upstairs, why would Ginny leave a note, wasn't she at home?

"Where is Ginny?" I asked Drooble.

"She went to stay with Trinkle and Hermione."

"Why?"

"Mistress Ginny said to tell you to read the note, master Harry."

I glanced up the stairs again, I could only imagine that Ginny had been angry with me and therefore decided to spend the night at Hermione's place. With a soft groan I ran my hand through my hair. Apparently I messed up good this time. After all I had promised to be home before dinner and also to help her with the gifts and the last minute preparations for the wedding.

"I'll go and have a look." I sighed.

"Mistress Ginny asked me to wake you up at half past seven if you got home to sleep." Drooble shyly admitted.

"Oh, that will be okay. Will you make sure there is breakfast ready by than?"

The elf nodded and left. With a heavy sigh I walked up the stairs. I thought about Drooble's orders from Ginny. If she would have left angry she wouldn't have ordered Drooble to wake me in the morning, she would have expected me to come to her and make it up.

_If she expected you to come home at all_. A small voice in my head sneered at me. I flinched away from that voice, it had been harassing me for a while, it was always telling me the things I didn't want to hear but in general they were the truth.

A small sheet of parchment lay folded in two on my pillow. I sat dawn on the edge of the bed and opened it.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm at Hermione's place. If you would have been home before I went to bed at least once this week you would have known that there was a change of plan. I'm staying in London so we can prepare Hermione there for her wedding, while you should actually be at the Burrow tonight. I told Ron not to count on your arrival._

Oh Merlin. I groaned, I glanced at my watch it was two-thirty, to late to go to the Burrow now.

_Make sure you arrive at the Burrow exactly at eight in the morning! I told mom that if you weren't there she should send George to retrieve you. The suit you have to wear is already tailored by Drooble and your gift for Ron is wrapped and on your nightstand, DO NOT FORGET IT! _

_I really hope you came home to read this._

_Ginny._

I read the short letter over and over again. I felt so bad, the fact that I had failed to really be there for my best friend hurt a lot andI couldn't blame it on anyone but myself.

What was bothering me worse were Ginny's words, the letter was so cold, Ginny had written it like she wrote a letter to a person she didn't know, even her letters to Kingsley held more emotion in it. She signed it with only her name, no words of love and no words of anger. It nearly chilled me, it scared the shit out of me.

Three in the morning was too late to go to her. She would be asleep and Hermione as well, they would need their rest, I knew they were planning on getting up really early. I read the note again. It hurt even more.

I kicked out my shoes and let myself fall backwards, only to sit up again and grab my shoes. I had to get to her, I had to make it right.

"Master Harry." Drooble said as he appeared at the door. "Don't go to Mistress Ginny. She will be angry if you do."

My head snapped towards the elf and I couldn't help but glare at him, sending the house-elf cowering against the door.

"Why! I should at least try to make it right."

"Miss…Mistress Ginny, she told me to tell you, master Harry, not to come to London. Mistress Ginny says you should sleep and go to the Burrow."

"But I can't, I can't sleep when she is upset or angry with me."

"Master Harry, maybe it's not my place, but master Harry, why would going now make things good? What would you say to mistress Ginny? You'll only hurt yourself getting splinched because you is too tired to apparate."

I groaned and fell back again, Drooble was, as much as I hated it, right. I was really tired, I had only four and half hours of sleep left and I truly didn't know what to say to Ginny that would make all this right.

I stared at the ceiling, just laying there thinking about how to make this right. I could say sorry over and over again and I really was sorry. I felt so bad for letting Ginny down, that I let all of my friends down.

The fact that I let Ginny alone at night a lot for the last weeks was weighing heavy on my mind. I knew her greatest fear was that I would take off again, that I would leave her again. I had promised her to never do that again and yet that was what I had been doing all over again. I had been so focused on catching dark wizards that I never had been really present even when I was at home. To be honest I couldn't remember the last time Ginny and I spend some time just laying on the sofa, holding each other and telling stories. To my absolute horror I realized that I didn't even know how her last match went, I knew they had won, I knew she had scored a few times but even being present in the stadium I was still working, scanning the crowd for threats, writing down notes and thoughts as they came up in my mind but I was never really focused on the match and we never talked about it afterwards.

As more as I thought about the last two weeks the more I realized what a dick I had been. It wasn't a wonder that Ginny was angry with me, what was a wonder that she wasn't as angry as she should be. Ginny, when angry was dangerous, she could kill me if she really wanted to, so it was a wonder that I wasn't in St. Mungo's yet.

Than suddenly it hit me, suddenly I realized what was happening, I had reach the worst point of a woman's anger, she was disappointed, I had disappointed her.

I rolled onto my stomach to scream in the pillow, I screamed as hard as I could to get all the frustration and anger I felt for my own stupidity out but it only left an empty space, just as empty as the bed next to me.

I was woken up roughly by Drooble, I hadn't even realized I had fallen asleep.

"Master Harry, you really has to wake up. Master Weasley is waiting for you to arrive at the Burrow." Drooble shouted loudly in my ear. "Wake up, master Harry, it's half past seven."

"Alright. I'm awake." I groaned as I turned onto my back. To my shock I noticed that I was still wearing my clothes from yesterday. I blinked a few times and located my glasses of to Ginny's side of the bed.

_Ginny!_

I sat up with a jolt. "Ginny." I breathed. "I have to see her, talk to her." I could hear the panic in my own voice.

"No, master Harry, you is to get dressed and go to the Weasleys, master Weasley is waiting for you."

I looked at the frantic looking elf knowing he was right, any apology to Ginny, what ever I was going to say, would have to wait but I realized that I wouldn't see Ginny until Ron and Hermione were ready to walk down the ail.

"Okay, okay. I'm up, I'll get ready."

"Your breakfast is ready, Master Harry, mistress Ginny has requested my presence, is that okay with you, master Harry?"

"Yeah, of course." I muttered as I got up. I turned around just in time to stop Drooble from apparating. "Drooble?"

"Yes, master Harry."

"Could you tell Ginny that I still love her." I asked softly.

"I will, master Harry."

Drooble left quickly and I stood alone in the bedroom. I stared out the window, it was still dark outside but I could see the first beams of purple coloring the sky. I really needed to hurry. I raced through a shower, combed my hair, which of course was useless and dressed myself in a black muggle style tux.

I grabbed the gift for Ron from the nightstand and pocketed my wand in it's holster. I was about to leave the room when I remember my gift for Ginny. I opened the drawer of my nightstand and pulled out the small box, I had bought it a while ago, after I heard about the bridesmaids dresses, it would match both Ginny's hair and the color of the dress. I had meant to give it to her this morning, now it was still here and Ginny wasn't.

I walked downstairs, thinking about what to do with the gift, I had no time to go to London myself, I wasn't even sure if Ginny was in London or if she would be at the Burrow already.

I wondered how to fix this mess I created while I at breakfast.

Suddenly a thought popped up.

"Kreacher!" I called out. The house elf appeared immediately, he was wearing a clean towel and apron.

"Master called?" He asked.

"Yes… What were you doing before I called you?" I asked as I looked down at his clean attire.

"Kreacher was helping Mrs. Molly with preparing the food as Mistress Ginny ordered Kreacher to do."

"Oh, okay, that's find but could you do something for me first?"

"Of course, Master Harry."

I grabbed a piece of parchment that was left on the table and a self inking quill and scribbled down a note to Ginny.

_I know this won't make things right but I bought it for you weeks ago, especially for you to wear it today. _

_I'm sorry and I really do love you._

_Love, Harry._

"Kreacher will you please give this note and gift to Ginny for me. I really need to get to the Burrow."

"Of course." He took the package and the note and left.

I grabbed the last sandwich and walked out quickly. I ran to the apparating spot and focus on the Burrow.

"Finally!" Ron yelled as I walked into the kitchen. He and Arthur were standing against the counter, not looking very friendly at me. I couldn't blame them

"Ron, I'm really sorry. I must be the worst friend ever for not being here on the night before your wedding. I don't know how I can make this right but I'm really sorry." I said quietly.

"It's alright mate." He chuckled. "I know how you get when you are on to something. I have been through it with you for the last thirteen or so years."

"No." I shook my head. "it isn't okay, my best friend should be more important than work."

"Harry, your work is saving people's life, what you do doesn't save one life, it will save many. Don't blame yourself for doing that." Ron said wisely.

I pulled him into a brotherly hug and thanked him for understanding.

"It's really okay, Harry, you are here now and that's what matters." Ron laughed before turning serious. "Though you'll won't have it so easy with my sister."

"I know, I messed up big time with that…again."

"Hmmm, you quite did. Though I expected you to be cursed by now." Arthur said with a thoughtful nodded.

"Ginny, isn't angry, she is disappointed." I sighed. "Angry I can deal with and fix but this…"

"You'll just have to do better." Arthur said as he patted me on my shoulder.

"I know, but lets forget it, it's a happy day, Ron's happy day, lets forget my troubles for now. This is for you Ron, a gift from Ginny and me for today."

"You didn't have to do that." Ron said with a smile.

"Don't worry it's nothing big."

Ron opened the small package, it held a set of cuffs for his dress robes. Ginny had them specially made by the Goblins, the were Hermione and Ron's initials.

"Nothing big!" Ron yelped. "These are beautiful."

"Gin, had them made for you." I admitted shyly.

"These are really too much." Ron said as she fastened them, "but I really love them."

I smiled at him, my best friend, getting married, to my other best friend. Though I had seen that coming since that disastrous Yule ball it still surprised me. it was two options really they would either end up killing each other or snogging each other senseless.

There was a knock on the kitchen door and Peter walked in, he was one of the many aurors that were stationed around the Burrow.

"Mister Potter?"

"Yes, Peter." I said as I turned to him.

"Are you ready to inspect the protection we have set up?"

I turned to look at Ron, he suddenly looked nervous and a bit pale. I guess that he remembered the last wedding he attended. I had done many times while I had worked out protection details with Kingsley and my team. It was a dark and scary memory.

"I'll be out in a few minutes, Peter." I said to my team member. Peter nodded and walked out again.

"Arthur? Could you leave me and Ron alone for a second?" I asked carefully.

"Of course, I'll check on the preparations in the tent." Arthur said happily. I was sure he had noticed Ron's demeanor. After Arthur left the kitchen Ron sighed and sank into one of the chairs.

"I know Ron but it won't be like that."

"How do you know for sure?" he asked.

"I don't" I admitted. "but we are older, better prepared and it's not Tom Riddle we are facing now. His Death Eaters are scattered or dead, they can't do what they used to do. We are much stronger than them. Even if they would try and attack, they won't hurt any of us."

"I hope you are right." Ron sighed.

"Come on, I'll show you all the protection we have been putting up around the Burrow and the tent, it might make you feel better." I said as I held out my hand.

Ron took it and let me lift him of his chair. We walked out to where Peter was talking to Kingsley. They were talking animatedly about something, I hated to admit but Kingsley looked worried.

"What's up?" I asked as I reached the two men. I noticed Kingsley's eyes flashing to Peter and than to Ron before he answered me.

"Just going over the wards, I found a weak spot I asked Peter to have a look at it but he couldn't find the reason for that spot."

"You should ask Bill, he has set up most wards for the Burrow, he's the expert, there might be a ward interfering with ours." I said calmly, though I didn't feel so. I could see it in Kingsley's eyes that something else was up but he wasn't going to tell me in front of Ron.

"I'll do that." Peter said with a nod and walked off towards the tent.

"I was just inspecting the wards and wanted to show Ron what we have done to calm his nerves." I explained to Kingsley. He nodded and motioned us to follow his.

"How nervous are you?" Kingsley asked Ron while we did our inspection round.

"Not for the wedding it self." Ron said with a happy smile. "I'm getting the girl…"

"but?"

"the last wedding went out with a bang." Ron sighed.

"Yes, I clearly remember that. I'm sure Harry told you already that you shouldn't worry and enjoy the day?"

"I did."

"but we can't be sure." Ron complained.

"Ron, leave the security issue to us and enjoy your big day." Kingsley said with a comforting smile. "you get the girl, than you'll be off for a three week honeymoon to the most secure and romantic location ever. Leave the worries to us."

"Yeah, you're right." He sighed. Right on cue Molly called for Ron to come in to get ready to greet the quests.

"I'll go, will you come with me?" Ron asked me.

"I'll be there in ten minutes, I want to do a full ward check on the apparition field with Kingsley." I told him. Ron nodded and ran towards the house.

Kingsley and I made around way to the apparition field in silence, every barrier we passed we checked for weak spots.

"This will be the only week point of the whole organization." Kingsley commented as we reached the apparition spot. I nodded and looked around.

"That's why we have so many man here. Only people with invitations will get trough."

"And Hermione, Ginny and Mrs. Granger will arrive by a ministry car?"

"Yes, it will be watched like a hawk. The muggle queen has less security." I nodded.

"It all seems okay." Kingsley mused.

We slowly made our way back to the Burrow, looking around to see if our guard was standing ready. There were a lot of aurors and the remaining members of the Order would arrive soon.

"Kingsley, tell me." I sighed when he didn't started.

"The date leaked." He said. "It's the Prophet this morning. I couldn't stop them from publishing it on time."

He handed me a cut out from the paper, I was relieved that it wasn't front page news but still I really wasn't happy with it. They knew now. They knew when our world would be most venerable, they knew the day that more than half of the auror office was pulled of their guard.

"Who knows?" I asked after I swallowed away the fear.

"Arthur, the aurors and Bill. We have decided not to tell Ron, Molly or Hermione. You should think about informing Ginny when she arrives."

"Yes, at least she should be on her guard. Though I don't think they will attack any of the wedding party."

"Me neither but they might want to go for less well guarded locations."

I nodded. It would be a big blow to everything we had been working for if they did. I could already imagine the headlines in the Prophet and Witch Weekly. It would probably say something like '_Wedding more important than lives_!' or '_ministry values wedding over lives'_, either way it would totally kill our equality program we have been working on.

It was a program decided on shortly after the war, it stated that everybody was equal, muggles, muggle-borns, half-bloods, half-breeds, werewolves, wizards and magical creatures. Everybody was dealt with like equals with in the ministry. Though it was a good plan the execution was a lot more difficult and needed a lot of law to be re-written.

So an attack on a venerable location succeeding because the aurors were engaged otherwise because of a wedding would be a big blow, not to mention the pain and hurt it would create.

"We need to reorganize." I muttered.

"Sorry, what did you say, Harry?" Kingsley asked.

"We need to reorganize immediately."

"What do you have in mind, pulling away people here will compromise the safety."

"Doesn't matter we have to be a step ahead." I argued. "Peter! Ann! Paul! Get here now!" I called out loudly. We were still far away from the Burrow's kitchen windows, Ron or Molly wouldn't notice.

"Harry, I don't think you should send people away from here, it's not wise."

"Kingsley, every wizard or witch who wants to attack will think we have more than half the auror office here, they won't attack, it will too dangerous but they won't know that we have the nerve to pull people away to protect our more venerable location nor do the patrols."

I waited till the others gathered around me, I was happy Bill showed up as well, if anyone knew about protecting his family it was Bill.

"What's up, Mr. Potter?" Ann asked cheerily.

"The usual, trouble." I sighed. "Okay, so you all k now about the date leak. I don't know how that happened or whom leaked but I'll find that out later. My first concern is the possibility of an attack."

"They won't attack the wedding, Harry, they aren't insane." Bill said quickly.

"I know, Bill, I'm not worried about an attack here. I'm more worried about the lack of security at other locations today. If Umbridge and, or Greyback know that today is the wedding, they will conclude that most of the aurors's attention will be here, leaving venerable spots free for them to attack."

"St. Mungo's is well protected, as is Diagon alley." Paul commented.  
"Those aren't our only weak spots." Peter said calmly.

"No, they aren't." I nodded. "So we need to come up with something."

"We can't pull anyone out here." Ann argued.

"Of course we can." I sighed. "and we will have, I'm not going to risk an attack succeeding. I want your team Peter to do scouts. Look at the classic Death Eater attack locations, Diagon Alley, Ministry, Godric's Hollow and all, you coordinate with me, tell me immediately if something's up, any kind of unrest within Death Eater ranks."

Peter nodded and went to round up his team.

"Harry, what about the wedding, we can't risk anything." Bill whispered.

"We don't risk anything, with your wedding the only reason the Death Eaters could attack was because the ministry fell and with that the wards, now we have put up the wards, we will stay here. Paul's team will guard the apparition spot and the outer lines of our wards."

Bill and Kingsley nodded.

"I'll do the tent and the Burrow." Ann nodded.

"No, Ann, I want you and your team to go to Hogsmeade. I just realize that it's Hogsmeade weekend for the students, it would be the biggest weakspot this weekend, though the Hogwarts teachers are all on extra alert, they won't be able to hold off a full attack."

"But Harry, that would leave the Burrow completely unprotected." Bill breathed.

"Of course not, we are not chopsticks, there are more than enough capable people in that tent during the day to protect everything but it will be better if we have a tap on things and not focus only on the wedding. We'll detect any movements quicker."

As I talked I got the gut feeling that we wouldn't be the target, my whole being feared for Hogsmeade, I just couldn't explain it.

"Okay, Harry, you are right, this sound like a good plan." Bill said. Kingsley agreed and soon all the measures were taken and I went back to Ron. While I walked I tried to send Ginny a message through the D.A. ring.

'_date got leaked, don't tell Hermione!'_

After a few seconds I send a new message.

'_be on your guard, they might do something.'_

And as last I send

'_Need to speak to you asap, not about excuses.'_

I needed to inform her about everything, not only for her own safety and that of other but also because I had promised to tell her everything and lately I had been failing in that as well. I needed to glue her in, I needed to be that honest and open person I had been before this whole mess.

I quickly got a message back.

'_I'll be on guard. See you soon_.'

I was a bit disappointed by the shortness of the message but at least she had replied but an other message followed quickly.

'_I'm happy to hear from you, thanks for the gift.'_

I felt a weight falling of my shoulders not all of it but I felt like I saved a bit of our relationship already.

I walking to the kitchen as Molly and Kreacher were finishing up the wedding cake, it was beautiful, like an ice sculpture but all from cake and cream.

"That's beautiful." I breathed as I stopped next to Molly.

"Oh Harry, thank you." Molly said with a smile. "Are you ready for everything?"

"Yes, is Ron out in the tent already?"

"Yes, he is waiting to receive the guests."

"I shall go and be with him, please send Ginny to me when she gets here."

"I will." Molly said but she was already distracted by the food.

I walked out the back door into a large tent, it was twice as large as the one they had used for Bill and Fleur's wedding, it was completely decorated like a midwinters dream. It looked a lot like how the gardens of Hogwarts had been decorated during the Yule ball. Warm snow was falling from the ceiling, snow was on the floor, on the bushes, red roses stood out against the white on the tables. Floating candles gave a soft white light and each table held a small ice sculpture. A midnight blue carpet marked the path to the altar.

"Hey mate, everything alright?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I saw Peter and his team leaving." Ron said worried.

"Yeah, I send them out to do scouts, see what the dark wizards are up to, Peter will report back later." I quickly explained. It wasn't a complete lie but it wasn't the complete truth either. I felt no need to alert Ron right now, he was nervous enough as it is.

"When does Hermione arrive?" he asked me.

"Soon, Ron. Soon, come on, lets greet the guests."

Ron nodded and we headed to the main entrance of the tent. The happy chatter told us that the first guests were arriving. For the next half an hour I was busy greeting guests, talking to people, checking on the aurors, watching for Peter to report back and waiting for the women to arrive.

Than suddenly I saw the flash of long red hair creeping into the Burrow. The bride had arrived, nobody would have seen her because she had been wearing my invisibility cloak but the arrival of Ginny and Mrs. Granger alerted everybody to that fact.

"I'll be right back, Ron, I have to ask Ginny something."

"Don't be late, mate."

"I won't."

I ran back to the Burrow and slipped inside through the back door.

"Harry!" An excited Hermione screamed and I was strangled by the emotional bride in a fierce hug.

"Hey, Moine. Everything okay?"

"Yes, I'm so nervous!" she squealed as she let me go. I looked at her for the first time, she was stunning. There just wasn't an other word for it. Her hair was tamed into a intricate braid with smooth curls hanging around her face. Her make was minimal but enhanced her eyes, it made them look even deeper. The dress was perfectly Hermione, a smooth silk like dress, no frills or excessive decorations but on the skirt small beads made it look like she was covered with a small glittering layer of snow. It was long sleeved and low cut.

"Hermione, you look absolutely stunning." I softly told her.

"Thank, Harry." She giggled.

I let go of her hand and turned to the other women in the living room. Hermione's mom was quietly talking to Luna, and Fleur. Hermione had asked Fleur to take Victiore down the aisle as a flower girl, the small baby was only six months old but looking already as beautiful as her mother.

In the back of the room Ginny was leaning against the wall, the set of earrings I gave her matched her dress beautifully. But it paled to the complete picture, Ginny, my Ginny was a vision of beauty. Hermione was the bride and all but I knew as I saw her looking at me that Ginny was the most beautiful being that day around the Burrow.

I slowly walked towards her, gauging how far I could go before I saw that anger flaring in her eyes. To my utter surprise she grabbed my hands and pulled me to her, she reached up and kissed me softly.

"I missed you." She murmured.

"I missed you too, you look so stunning, it's almost unfair for Hermione." I whispered in her ear. It made her giggle.

"You wanted to talk?" she asked.

"Yeah, but not here. Come outside with me for a second."

We silently slid out of the room and into the garden. We walked around the house to be out of sight of the tent and the living room.

"What's up?" She asked with a soft smile.

"Am I allowed to apologize first?" I asked carefully. It made her sigh and look a bit sad.

"Harry." She whispered. "You can try to apologize but how many times are you going to do that? I don't think there are words to say."

My eyes snapped at hers and locked with her beautiful deep eyes. I saw the hurt and the disappointment in them and I started to fear that I had ruined my relationship with her for ever.

Pain ripped through me as my fears spread, I felt myself shaking slightly and getting light headed. I watched her eyes widen and she quickly gripped my hands.

"I love you, Harry. You know I do but you know as well as I do that words are only words. You promised me many time never to leave me again and I trust you. I know that you sometimes need to be away for a while as hard as it is…"

"But…" I urged her to finish.

"But the last two weeks… it was like you lived in an other world, that we lived past each other. I don't want that. I want you to be a part of my live and I want to be a part of yours."

I looked at her as she spoke, I was trying to take in her words but I was still over taken by the fear of her wanted to leave me.

When she didn't continue I wondered where we stood. She still hadn't excepted my apology nor said that she didn't want to.

"So you still love me?" I asked carefully, my voice sounded like a small child.

"Of course." She bristled.

"and you still want to be with me?" I didn't even have the nerve to look at her, I glanced at her sparkly pumps instead.

"oh Harry."

Suddenly her arms were around me and her lips were on mine, she kissed me with a fierce passion that I had never felt before. When she pulled away she smiled slightly.

"Of course I still want to be with you. I really want to be WITH you but I can't do that if you aren't there, physically and mentally!"

"I know you are right." I sighed, more relieved than anything else. "I'll try and do better."

Ginny smiled and glanced at the watch I was wearing.

"We have five minutes before I really have to get back in, what was so important?"

"Oh, yes." I told her everything that had happened, the leak of the date, the meeting we promptly had and the decisions we made. She stayed very calm while I spoke, sometimes her eyes would betray her real feelings but she never said anything.

"So you fear they will attack Hogsmeade today?" she asked when I finished telling her about my gut feeling on the subject.

"Yes. I send Ann and her team to Hogsmeade. I'm ninety-nine percent sure our internal leak isn't in her team so I guess that it was the most safest option."

"Where do you think the leak is?"

"In Paul's team. That's why I kept them here. There is a ward up around this place, it covers everything with in a mile from here, the ward prevents any messages to be send from this place."

"But you send me a message."

"Yes, that's because I set up the ward. I'm the only one that can send messages. Nobody knows about that ward or than Bill, Kingsley, Ann, Paul and Peter."

"Why telling me this, you haven't told Ron, Hermione, Luna, George or anyone else from the old D.A.?"

"No, I haven't. Bill knows, your father does and besides that only Kingsley and the auror teams. I don't want to have anything stand in the way of the happy wedding Ron and Hermione deserve." I said quickly. "And Merlin knows they deserve one, they haven't had an easy relationship to so the least."

Ginny laughed loudly.

"No they haven't." she laughed. "So you aren't going to tell the rest?"

"I wasn't sure, we might tell George, Neville, Angelina and Luna but than again I do really think that they won't attack here."

"You'll get updates right?"

"Yeah, Peter will be back here shortly after the ceremony to give me an update, or maybe I'll ask Drooble to see what Peter is up to if I feel I need too."

"Alright than, let's forget about if for now. You've got a groom to calm down and I have a bride to keep in check. We better go."

"Yeah, I'll see you soon."

I kissed her quickly and walked around the Burrow towards the tent. I was quite happy and shocked to be honest, happy that my talk with Ginny went so well but at the same time shocked it went so well. Especially after yesterday I expected her to put up more of a fight and I knew I probably would still get that fight but at least she seemed more disappointed than angry. Though I know that is much worse it also meant that she probably wouldn't hex me, or yell at me and that made all the difference in the world.

I knew I had to change my ways again, stop being away all the time, keep to appointments or at least listen to her and pay attention. The thing I have been failing to do when I was with her these last two weeks, not to mention the time I wasn't even around.

I walked up to where Ron and George were talking to Neville and Seamus. They all seemed in good spirits, though Ron kept glancing at the Burrow and his watch. I silently joined them as they talked about the upcoming honeymoon.

"Where are you going?" Fred's spirit form asked.

"To Morocco." Ron said with a smile.

"Morocco?" Seamus asked surprised. "That's not a real typical honeymoon country."

"I know but Hermione has been in love with that country ever since she has been reading about the mystical features of that country. I told her I didn't like it and booked something much better, she wasn't happy about it but it will be one of my gifts to her." Ron explained.

"Are you staying in a muggle hotel?"

"No a magical one, somewhere in an oasis in the middle of the desert. From what I have seen it's exactly what Hermione dreams off."

"Anything for the girl, right." George laughed.

"Of course." Ron shrugged casually.

We all laughed, the sound of my voice drew the attention to my presence.

"Everything alright?" Fred asked, he looked serious. I wondered if he had heard anything. Ghost or ghost like's are really easy to hide and I'm sure Fred knew that better than a five hundred year old ghost.

"Yeah, the girls are here, everything went smoothly. You my dear friend should be married in about an hour." I said as I happily grabbed his shoulder.

"Yeah." Ron smiled happily.

"I still can't believe it." George cried out dramatically.

"Me neither." I sighed.

"My little brother getting married!" Fred replied loudly.

"Thought that would never happen." George sighed.

"Me neither." I whispered again.

And it was true. I vividly remember the Yule ball, or the bird, or Lavender and so on. I remember all the fights Ron and Hermione had. It came to a point that I thought they would never see the truth between them. Hermione had been too smart for her own good, Ron didn't want to give up his childhood, they clashed. I couldn't pinpoint where or when it happened but it was somewhere during the horrible camping trip, Ron had grown up.

"come on, it's time." Ron said as he pulled my arm.

"Oh is it. Lets go than."

We met with Arthur at the altar, he was wearing one hell of a proud smile as he saw his Ron walking up to his place next to him. I smiled widely as Arthur grabbed Ron and pulled him into a hug. It was a beautiful father-son moment.

"Ready, Ron?" I asked as he let go of his father.

"Yes." Ron said quite confidently.

Exactly that moment music started to play. It wasn't a traditional wedding song from what I could understand, a lot of people actually did look surprised. It was a what I believed to be a muggle classis opera song. I knew Hermione loved those.

At the end of the isle Luna and Angelina appeared. In their wake a flow of red rose leaves fell on the carpet. I had to admit that they both looked stunning in their long pale purple dresses. I noticed Charlie's jaw had dropped as he watched Luna walk towards the altar. George actually whistled.

Next followed Fleur with little Victoire in her arms. Fleur was dressed in a blue witches dress while Victoire was dressed in a frilly dark purple dress. Around her neck hung a chain with the two rings.

Victoire hadn't been Hermione's first choice of ring bearer. I remember vividly the long discussion she had with Kingsley and Amos Diggory about the option of having Trinkle bear the ring down the aisle. Hermione wanted to know if she could have her elf wear a dress or if that would cause issues with the traditional freeing of the elf. Amos had bluntly said that she was insane that she even considered it and that she should ask a human to do it. I was watching them from the door way and it was good as well or Amos Diggory would have been cursed into the next decade by Hermione. After that Kingsley advised Hermione just to ask Trinkle if it would cause issues and according to Trinkle it did. The house-elf wouldn't be able to except anything but towels, pillowcases and aprons for clothes to wear.

It was an understatement to say that Hermione was disappointed.

After Fleur and Victoire followed Ginny, she was a vision. She wore the same colored dress as Luna and Ange but accented with silver and gold. Her hair was done up in braids almost similar to Hermione's. When she reached the end of the aisle she gave me a small wink.

Next to me Ron was quivering with excitement and nerves as the music slowly changed into an other master piece. The end of the aisle lit up as thousands of little fairies fluttered around Hermione as she stepped onto the carpet.

I heard Ron's breath hitch.

"She is beautiful." He whispered.

My eyes followed my best friend as her father guided her down the aisle. She looked nervous at the people around her, Hermione sure didn't like being in the spotlight. Her eyes darted over every head, she smiled when she saw family or friends. Than her eyes met mine just for a second before skipping to Ron.

It was honestly like a fairytale, Hermione lit up with a bright smile and Ron let out a heavy sigh. If love was magic, like Dumbledore had always said, every person would have been blown of their feet by the power of it. I could literally feel it soak the air.

Kingsley had been so kind to agree to perform the ceremony. As he had the power to do so as minister for magic and because he was a very good friend. His gentle deep voice rang through the tent as he spoke of Ron and Hermione's life and future. He spoke of the strength of love like he was channeling Dumbledore.

Than time came for the vows. Ron was first up.

"My love, my life and my heart, you are Hermione. Though I haven't been the best of friends, nor the best of lover I have always loved you, even when I didn't even realized it myself. Like in our fourth year when I yelled at you for no reason. I have been a prat to you many times. The emotional range of a teaspoon you once said. Well I promise you to find the biggest teaspoon there is."

Hermione let out a teary chuckled and smiled. Ron fairly well described their rocky relationship in two sentences.

"I also promise you, my sweet Hermione, that I will try and learn from my mistakes, that I will try to be there for you when you need me, I promise that I will be close to you, love you and care for you, I promise to be the man that you deserve, as impossible that might be. I love you, my Moine."

Everybody laughed and cheered as Ron finished his vows. Hermione looked ready to pull him in a fierce hug but instead she just smiled up at him and whispered some words that were private.

"My Ron, when I heard about a world of magic I never would have believed magic could be like this. The hum of your love for me flows through every cell in my body. I know our relationship has been rocky to say the least but that's because I'm just your insufferable-know-it-all."

The whole tent broke out in laughter at Hermione's words. It took a minute for everybody to quiet down.

"Well let me tell you this, Ronald Weasley." Hermione was doing a very good job of sounding like her upset fourteen year old self. I couldn't help but smile at Ron when his face fell slightly in a pout. "This insufferable-know-it-all, also knows that she will do her best to be the best wife you could wish, that I will follow you to the end of the world, that I will take care of you when you need it, that I will be strong in your moments of weakness, that I'll support you when you need it and that I will love you until my dying day."

Everybody applauded when her words died in the air.

"Ron, please take the ring and repeat after me."

Ron turned to Fleur and Victoire who stood waiting next to them and took the small white gold band.

Kingsley said out the traditional wedding vows for both Ron and Hermione. Though Ron had told me that he initially thought of it to be stupid to do extra traditional vows next to their own but after Hermione had explained to him why it was important to her he had agreed and I have to admit it was really special.

Ron's wedding ring was white gold with a small golden thread weaved around it. When Hermione finished sliding it on his finger Ron pulled her into a kiss.

"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Weasley." Kingsley called out with a laugh.

Everybody cheered and gave them a standing ovation.

Ron and Hermione were overwhelmed by family and friends to congratulate them. I decided to wait until later to do that. I stood at the side and watched everybody hug and kiss Ron and Hermione. Ginny was somewhere there in the mix as well.

She had been emotional during the ceremony. I had seen tears run down her face. I believed they were happy tears because she was smiling all the time. I wondered if she would smile like that when we would meet at the altar. Would she cry softly like Hermione did? I liked to imagine she would. I would even shed a tear of happiness.

"What are you thinking about?" A soft voice from behind me asked.

"You." I said as I reached behind me. I grabbed her hand and pulled her around me into my arms.

"What were you thinking about me?"

I kissed the top of her head and breathed in her flowery scent. "I was wondering about how you would look on our wedding day." I admitted honestly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about how emotional we would be and how you would look."

"Not like this." Ginny laughed. "Though I love the idea of the midwinter theme, I rather marry in the summer or spring."

"Really?"

Gin nodded.

"Hmm, the summer sounds nice, maybe on a tropical beach or something." I mused.

"Maybe, hey have you congratulated Ron and Hermione already?" She suddenly asked.

"No, I was waiting for a quieter moment, I better go now." I said as I watched only a small group standing around the happy couple. Ginny followed me to them.

"Hey." I whispered in Hermione's ear as I approached them. "Congratulations."

Hermione squealed and wrapped her arms around me. "Thank you, Harry!"

"Are you happy?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. It was beautiful." She said happily before she was pulled away by the next well-wisher.

"Congrats Ron." I said happily as I pulled him in a one armed hug. "You've done it."

"Yeah… blimey, I really did it, didn't I." Ron said, he still sounded a bit dazed by all of it.

"Yes, you did. Somewhere, somehow you impressed our little know-it-all friend." I laughed.

"I guess I did." Ron smiled happily.

Soon the happy couple was swept of into the Burrow for a little moment alone and a change to fresh up. I helped Arthur and Bill with to re-arrange the set up for the tent for the afternoon. Ron and Hermione had opted for a large reception after the ceremony for people they knew but weren't very close with. This mean mainly Hogwarts teachers, a few people we got to know at school and a few ministry workers Hermione and Ron got to know over the last year.

Also pictures would be taken in the tent, one official picture for the Prophet, Kingsley advised that one and than a large number for their one wedding album.

"Harry!" Somebody called out as I put in place a part of the dance floor. I turned around to see Bill waving with Peter standing next to him. I finished placing the floor piece and walked over to the two men.

"How is it going?" I asked Peter.

"Can we talk a bit more private?" He asked nervously.

"Yeah, follow me." I took Peter out of the tent and around the back of the Burrow. Once we were out of sight from the tent and the living room of the Burrow I asked him again.

"Not so good, Mr. Potter." He said nervously. "There is movement, they are really up to something. We don't know what but from what we have heard Greyback is on the loose. He has been seen by a few team members, the group he was surrounded with was too big to attack with just two men."

"All werewolves?" I asked concerned.

"From what we could see, we think so. Greyback was leading them to something."

"Hmm." I nodded to show that I heard him but my mind was already running through the possibilities and the meaning of this sudden out in the open thing Greyback was doing. I couldn't say I wasn't worried about it. Greyback had made very clear that he would do anything to make my life miserable and a lot of pure blood wizards still supported him for that. They wanted to see me dead but I was sure they never would attack the wedding. For all they knew the whole auror office was here.

But than the question arises what were they planning.

"And Umbridge and the other Death Eaters?" I asked before thinking any further.

"Mulciber was with Greyback. Umbridge hasn't been seen, nor were the others."

"She is keeping a guard around her, that means we can't attack her and protect what needs to be protected." I sighed.

"yes, that's a bit of a downer but what do we need to protect?" Peter asked.

"So, Greyback is on the loose with a large pack of werewolves."

"There were at least ten of them according to Jasper, he saw them as the walked out of the forest and apparated away. Kelly saw them as well but from the entrance of the forest."

"Hmmm. So, Greyback is out with ten wolves, accompanied by Mulciber. Why?" I mused. It didn't make much sense. Since the attack in Hogsmeade where Luna got injured Greyback hadn't been seen out. He had participated in some attacks on kids of those who refused to join them but nobody ever really saw him. Why would he be out now? I ran my hand through my hair and sighed frustrated.

"Let's sum it up one more time." I muttered as I started to pace. "The date of the wedding got leaked. With that giving anyone who wants bad in this world a date on which the focus of the auror office is focused on the safety of many high profile guests. This results in extra activity within the known dark wizards. Greyback is spotted again, in the company of at least ten other werewolves and Mulciber."

"Yes." Peter nodded.

"Why?" I sighed.

"Colleen." I heard somebody whispering behind me. I whirled around to see Ginny standing just a few feet away.

"Gin?"

"I saw you and Peter walking past the Burrow, I wondered what was up." She explained calmly. I nodded, I honestly wasn't bothered by the fact that she listened to my conversations with Peter or any other person for that matter.

"What did you mean with Colleen?"

"Can't it be that they are after Colleen again?" She asked.

"How do you figure that?" Peter asked. "And who is Colleen?"

"Colleen is a Gryffindor that's still at Hogwarts, she is the keeper of the Quidditch team and is already in Gwen's book for their next star keeper." I explained quickly before turning to Ginny. "How do you figure that?"

"Because of multiple things actually. It's a Hogsmeade weekend for the students and because it's shortly before Christmas a lot of kids will be out, you know how Greyback feels about kids." She murmured darkly. "And with Colleen, she is still a good friend of us and she is Mulciber's family, I'm sure he would want revenge for what happened last time they met."

"You think the werewolves will attack the kids?" Peter asked shocked.

"They did it during the battle for Hogwarts as well and Greyback is known for preferring kids." I groaned. Ginny's words made sense. Though I didn't immediately agree with her that Colleen was the main target, it would explain why Mulciber was with them. If it were Greyback and his motley crew alone I might be more inclined to believe that they would just go for the kids.

"Harry, we have to warn them." Ginny whispered as she grabbed my arm, I could see in her eyes that she was scared for her friend. I couldn't resist pulling her in my arms and hold her close.

"We will, love." I whispered. I looked up at Peter and thought about a plan, Gin and I couldn't leave, nor could Ron, Hermione and the rest of the D.A. members. So I had to place my complete trust in Peter and the rest of the teams.

"Peter, I agree with Ginny that Hogsmeade is their most likely target. I want you and the rest of the team there as well. Warn professor Kelly about the situation, she is McGonagall´s replacement as head of Gryffindor."

Peter nodded. "Anything else, Sir?"

"You and your team stay there and work with the other teams to keep the student safe."

"What about this girl, Colleen? Should I keep an eye out for her?"

I glanced at Ginny, she was nodded in agreement.

"Yes, if it's possible. Make sure she doesn't see her uncle. Mulciber is her uncle, the last time she saw him she was ready to curse him into the next century. It will only cause trouble, if you see her, don't talk to her only when things are dangerous you should contact her and bring her to safety."

"What does she look like?"

"About a head taller than me, a bit sturdy build but not fat or anything, dark brown long straight hair. She has silvery eyes. If she is in Hogsmeade she'll wear a Holyhead Harpies shawl and gloves. You won't find her in the girl kind of shops. She is either in the Broomsticks, Quidditch store or the sweetshop." Ginny summed up.

"And if you want to know for sure it's her, show her Mulciber if he is there, if she starts cursing without question it's her. Her temper is that of a pure blood. She doesn't ask first." I explained to Peter. "but before you go to Hogsmeade make sure the other teams knows what is going on, communicate only with the team leaders, makes sure the other keep an eye out for the rest of Umbridge followers."

Peter nodded and walked away. Ginny looked up at me, her eyes full of questions.

"Colleen will be safe. They know what to do." I assured her. "Besides, if Colleen meets Mulciber, or Greyback, I fear as much for their live as hers."

Ginny nodded and glanced at the tent.

"We can't leave and help, can we?" She sighed.

"No, love, as much as I want to we can't let Hermione or Ron in on this, it would ruin their day."

"What if their attack succeed? Will we tell them than?"

"I don't know. We will see when it comes to that." I said. As she looked up and captured her lips with mine. I missed kissing her. All the days I had spend away, I felt hard now. "I missed being with you." I sighed.

"And I missed being with you." She nodded.

"I won't make any promises, you know how I am but I'll try to do better."

"I won't ask more of you." She whispered as she kissed me passionately. I loved kissing her like this, it made me loose all thoughts of the outside world. When she kissed me like this we were in our own little world.

"We should head back to the tent." Ginny sighed.

"Yeah, I know they will know we were gone by now."

We walked back to the tent where the afternoon reception was already in full swing. A few professors were there and Hagrid. I took a while to talk to him, I hadn't seen Hagrid in a long time. After the summer I had stopped by only once but as always he didn't blame me. He was just excited to share all the fascinating and dangerous creatures he had used in his class.

After that I took the time to tell McGonagall what was going on. She was shocked and wanted to leave immediately.

"It's not that I don't trust your team, Harry, it's just as head of the school I need to be there." She said rapidly as I tried to explain why she couldn't leave immediately.

"But Ron and Hermione can't know. It would ruin their day."

"I know, I won't tell them. I have already said that I couldn't stay long. Not with so many of my staff here." She said with a smile. "I'll contact you later tonight if anything happens."

"Okay, Minerva. We'll talk later."

She left shortly after that.

Arn and his family were at the afternoon reception. I was happy to see him back on his feet and relatively healthy.

"I'm as good as new, only I'm not as quick as I was yet." He said as he shook my hand.

"When will you start work again?" I asked.

"I could start today as long as it is a desk job but I need dueling training to get the feel back."

"I can help you with that." I offered him.

"Nah, Harry, you are busy enough. I can't ask that of you." He refused.

"I can help you." Neville suddenly offered as he walked in on our conversation.

"Mr. Longbottom, it's good to see you again." Arn said happily.

"It's just Neville and it's good to see you too, Arn." Neville said happily as he shook the man's hand. "I mean it, Arn, I could use a bit of dueling training, you don't get much action in the greenhouses."

"I bet some of those plants put up a good fight." Arn chuckled.

"They do, but as a member of the D.A. I need to stay in practice, you can get into shape and I can learn some new things. What do you think?"

"Harry?" Arn asked doubtful after a minute.

"Neville is good. He isn't the one with the strong curses but I saw him fight at Hogwarts, he won't be a push over." I said thoughtfully.

"Do you even have time for it, Neville?"

"Oh, yes. The Christmas holidays are about to start and I wasn't planning on staying the castle but I don't think I like to sit around with my grandma all the time."

"What about the days before the holidays?" Arn asked. "I like to get back into it as soon as possible."

"I can manage to drop in on you for a few hours every day. I don't have much to do in the mornings at the moment." Neville shrugged.

"Alright, why don't we plan something."

I knew than that it wasn't my conversation anymore and left them to their planning. I made my way through the guests, many wanted to talk or just shake hands with me. I wasn't really bothered by it anymore. I found out that these little moments had their use. While I didn't like talking about myself, it created for me a fast social network. And this network had tip, connections and advises.

I hated Slughorn for it but slowly I saw myself becoming the spider in the large and ever growing web of special catches. I still didn't like that images but slowly I started to learn the uses of it.

When it was finally time for dinner I was almost tackled by a small boy.

"Ry! Ry!" the little man shouted happily.

"Hey Teddy." I said as I picked the boy up. I was surprised to see that he was able to walk so well already. "What mischief are you up to?"

"NO!" He shouted. "Gin! Ry!" He pointed towards the table where Ginny was sitting with Andromeda and Fleur.

"Were you playing with Ginny?"

"Gin!" the boy laughed happily. I carried him over to the table where the women were laughing. "No! No! No, Gin!"

"Not to Ginny? Why?" I asked him as he squirmed in my arms.

"Gin, tickle!" he squealed.

"What? Is Ginny tickling you?" I asked in mock shock. The little boy nodded and pouted. "Alright, we are not going to Ginny, lets go see where Ron and Hermione are." I said as I turned around.

"Yes! Moine!" he clapped happily.

We found them with Bill, Charlie and Luna, sitting at a table. I grabbed a chair and sat down with Teddy on my knee.

"Oh, he is growing fast." Luna said as she saw Teddy.

"Yeah, he is one and half years old." I said as I placed Teddy so that he could see everybody.

"Hi Teddy." Luna said as she reached for his hand. He took it and shook. I could see it was something Meda had learned him.

"This is Luna, Teddy." I whispered to him.

"Luna!" The happy boy yelled. Everybody laughed and clapped. It was clear that Teddy enjoyed the attention.

I sat there with Teddy for a while, just talking with the others and playing with the little men until it was time for the dinner to really start. Andromeda came to pick up the little man and I made my way to my seat next to Ginny.

Ron and Hermione had a good table arrangements. Not old fashioned one with parents and family at one table and friends on an other. They had arranged their table to be only seated with their closest friend. So Ginny and I shared the table with Neville, Luna and Charlie, and George and Angelina. I know it seems like a small group of friends, because half of it was Ron's family but it really was our group of friends.

There was a table with the rest of the family, a table with old house-mates and a table with people we knew from the ministry and the order.

The food was really good, Trinkle, Drooble, Kreacher and Molly had done a great work in making all the food. It was a mix of Hermione and Ron's favorite dishes.

After dinner it was time for the speeches. As the best man I had prepared a short speech and I knew that Ginny had prepared something as well but the grand finale would be Hermione's dad.

Arthur went first.

"Ron and Hermione!" Arthur called the attention to him as he stepped onto the small platform. "Let me be the first to officially congratulate the both of you with this union. Hermione, I know that sometimes Ron isn't the easiest person to live with, he'll annoy you, he'll make you angry or he'll do or say stupid things because of his lack of knowledge about emotions but I can assure you that he loves you and he has done from the moment he saw you. Please be patient with him."

Everybody laughed at Ron's bright red blush.

"Ron, I know as a dad I have failed to teach you some things, like how to deal with women, their emotions, their feelings and their regularly irritable periods but believe me when I saw it all will be a walk in the park compared to the time they are pregnant. So never forget that. I know you love Hermione a lot and I'm sure she loves you more than anything, so let your old dad toast to that love." Arthur raised his glass, "To Love."

Everybody joined in and toasted to love.

"Dad really can't speech." Ginny whispered in my ear as she got up to do her speech. I nodded and stole a brief kiss.

I watched her walk to the stage, her dress created a flowing form around the curves of her body. I swear she was looking more and more beautiful as the day continued. Full of confidence she walked up the stage and smile at Ron and Hermione.

"As Hermione asked me to be her maid of honor it's given to me to say something about our lovely couple." Her smile grew full of mischief. "Hermione, sadly it's to late to warn you not to do this! And Ron, what were you thinking! Marrying that bloody know-it-all that yelled at you for wanting to play Quidditch rather than study." Ginny shook her head in mock sadness. "I don't know what happened but somehow somewhere you both just lost your marbles. Anyway now that we are too late, I might be a bit helpful and give you both some pointers. Hermione, never ever disturb Ron while he is eating, he just might end up accidentally curse you."

I saw Hermione glance as Ron as he blushed and nodded. Apparently Ron an Ginny both remembered some bad history between them.

"Also, when ever Ron say something stupid just remember the many times Fred and George got to him, it leaves emotional scars."

To my surprise Ron raised his hands and asked Ginny to stop.

"Don't worry dear brother, I won't tell her what happened to you on the day you first went to Hogwarts, mom would kill me. You can tell Hermione that yourself." Ginny laughed. "I might just mention the love potion thing when you were ten years old, or that accident with the broom the summer before your third year."

Ginny was relentless.

"Anyway, Hermione, my dear new sister, be patient with him. And Ron, my tips for you, never try to be right, you should know by now that Hermione always knows better. Always compliment on her clothing, even if she wears sweat pants and t-shirt, just say she looks beautiful. Like she does every night. When you come home, Ron, make sure to check the bottom drawer of her night stand."

"Ginny!" Hermione yelled in horror.

"Ron believe me, you might find use for things Hermione."

Hermione groaned and blushed bright red. Ginny had pointed out something very embarrassing for Hermione.

"And last tip Ron, love her, love her with everything you have, you found that special girl that loves you unconditionally, you found a girl that loves fiercely and that cares for everybody but most for you. I dedicate this toast to that, to fierce and passionate love!"

We all followed Ginny in her toast. Her speech wasn't bad, it just touched onto some small bloopers and histories but she kept it simple and I loved that. Though as I glanced at my paper I realized that mine was really long and emotional. I sighed and got up to make my way to the platform.

'_time for some serious_ _business_.' I sighed mentally.

"It's not every day your best friend and your sister-of-the-heart get married." I started. "but that is just what I witnessed a few hours ago. A bit more than nine years ago I met Ron, during that first train ride to Hogwarts I got to know my future best friend. I never regretted that day. Nor do I regret the decision to chase after Hermione only to find her trapped by a troll. It was the moment we all became friends. From that moment on I was tortured, badly I can say. I was the third wheel that had to watch Ron and Hermione dance around each other never really reveal their true feelings. Many times I had wondered if they would ever pick up the courage to tell the truth and what if they did? What would happen to our friendship? Was it strong enough to survive them dating?"

Everybody chuckled but only Ron, Hermione and myself knew how true my words were. I took a deep breath and continued.

"And then the war happened. I know many won't believe me but travelling for many months together, sharing a tent together doesn't bring a couple in love together. If anything it only creates more of the dancing around like I witnessed in the years before. Of course, this dancing could only end in an explosion. Luckily for us Ron and Hermione had many small explosions, so the big one wasn't that strong. Still the world longest camping trip didn't bring out the love between them." I said in mock sadness. I only than noticed that everybody was silent. "For Ron and Hermione something bigger and more important was needed to finally give into their love. The safety of the Hogwarts house-elves."

I paused because everybody was laughing.

"Seriously, fighting every day for your survival didn't do the trick, no all it took was for Ron to comment on the safety of house-elves and Hermione nearly killed him by flinging herself to him. So here by I toast on the safety of house-elves!" I called out, receiving the reaction I expected, everybody looked confused and a bit apprehensive about this toast. "and the bond they finally formed between Ron and Hermione! By brother and Sister."

Everybody followed my toast and applauded.

"Okay, okay." I called everybody to silent. "Now that we have had all the serious bits of this wedding let us start with the entertainment!"

Both Ron and Hermione looked confused. They expected a speech from Hermione's dad as was written in the program, after that they would have time to switch dresses and shoes before the party started. Entertained wasn't on the program yet.

"Yes, yes. I know the schedule didn't say anything about dinner table entertainment but we found the perfect show and we couldn't let this opportunity pass. Please remember that this is all Hermione's doing."

Hermione looked even more shocked.

"Now, please welcome, Miss Kelly Drag…Queen!" I shouted and quickly left the stage.

From the side of the tent a man dressed in Ginny's blue mini skirt and glittery tank top, with Fleur's high heel red pumps, a boa and a blonde wig entered the stage.

"NO!" I heard Hermione gasp. She immediately recognized her father. Ginny and I smiled wickedly. I waved my wand and a stripper pole appeared on the stage.

"Good evening, good evening, my beloved fans!" Hermione's dad called out in a high pitched voice. You had to give it to him, he wasn't afraid and he sure was a good sport. "Thank you, Harry, my dear handsome boy for this lovely introduction. As he said I'm Miss Kelly Drag…Queen and I'm here to start your entertainment for the evening."

Everybody laughed and applauded. Bill and George wolf whistled loudly. On his cue I waved my wand again and conjured up two chairs next to the stage.

"Now, if the bride and her sexy groom would please come forward and sit here, we can start our little game."

Hermione and Ron looked at me, Ron looked shocked, Hermione just glared. I shrugged and motioned them to move.

"They don't like it this one bit. And I thought women were brutal." Ginny whispered in my ear. Suddenly she glanced over my shoulder and her smile fell.

"What?" I whispered.

"Peter." She said softly and nodded towards the back entrance of the tent. I turned around to see a beaten looking wizard standing against the tent pole. He was holding himself up against it. He noticed me looking and motioned me towards him. I nodded and got up.

"I'll be right back." I whispered to Ginny.

"Will you?"

"Yes, if I have to leave, I'll tell you."

I walked over to Arn and told him about Peter. He silently got up and followed me towards Peter. Kingsley noticed it as well and followed us. I glanced at the stage to see if Ron and Hermione noticed but Mr. Granger was doing a good job in distracting the happy couple and the rest of the guests.

"Peter, are you okay?" I asked as I reached him, he looked bad, exhausted and bruised.

"Yeah, just so tired." He breathed.

"Come." I said and led him towards the decorated garden. It was magically heated and lighted, there were seats placed everywhere. I motioned him to sit down. "What happened?"

Peter ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"It was a mess." He groaned. "You sure were right about the attack on the kids, and about that girl."

"Colleen? What happened."

"Well, I did what you asked me to do. I warned the people that should be warned, together with Miss Kelly I found the girl. I made sure I kept an eyes on her. McGonagall returned and took watch with us. It took a long time before something happened but the werewolves and Mulciber arrived and all panic broke loose, they didn't even attempt to hide. They didn't expect us there. We reacted quickly but with all the kids running and screaming we couldn't just do a counter attack." He finished with a sigh.

"What did you do?" Kingsley asked.

"McGonagall and the teachers worked to evacuate all the kids, and quickly we managed to stun a few but Greyback was out for blood."

"How many were injured?" Arn asked.

"Not too many. Four kids got injured and were treated by the school nurse. One was transported to St. Mungo's for further treatment. He had bite marks."

"It wasn't the full moon so he won't be completely infected." I said.

"How do you know?" Peter asked.

"Bill, the same happened to him, he turned out to be alright." I quickly explained. "what happened that made you so exhausted?"

"That blasted girl! I know you warned me but still…"

"What did Colleen do now?" I groaned.

"We had it all under control. We had captured at least five of the werewolves and were searching for Greyback and Mulciber. Colleen found them first. There was a loud blast close to the broomsticks, so I thought they were after the last students. We took off only to find a girl, shooting curses and screaming curses. I think Mulciber was shocked or she would have been tortured and dead already but even I had to admit that girl has some passion in her, or anger."

"Is Colleen okay?" I asked.

"We didn't reach them in time, he managed to torture her for a minute or so before we got a clear shot." Peter chuckled darkly. "Even that didn't stop her, as soon as he stopped to defend himself from us, she started again. Swearing loudly, even trying to curse Mulciber. We had to stun her as well, just to prevent her from hurting herself."

"Where is she now?"

"At the ministry. We figured someone would want to talk to her. Elain Kelly is with her and Melanie will interview her."

I nodded. "Keep her until after the wedding, Ginny and I will return her to Hogwarts." I said. "What about Mulciber and Greyback?"

"We… we actually got lucky, thanks to that girl we got Mulciber. He couldn't deal with her curses and ours at once. She actually managed to hit him with a curse. We just don't know which one but he is locked up at the ministry."

"Is he in a good shape?" Kingsley asked.

"Not really. He isn't injured badly, at least not deadly but he doesn't react like he should."

We all nodded and fell silent for a while.

"I have to go." Peter said. "I still have to see to the injured kids and their families."

"No, I'll do that. You go home and get some rest. Arn, Harry and I will deal with it." Kingsley said. "As minister I have to go to Hogwarts anyway."

"I'll deal with Mulciber." Arn nodded. He looked fired up and ready to work. "I'll be at the ministry after this dinner finishes."

"Like I said, Ginny and I will take care of Colleen, after that we are going hunting. We really have to get a more active approach on this. They won't ever attack the children again."

I was honestly angry with it all and worse deep down I knew Umbridge was behind this idea, she hated kids as much as she hates me. I knew she had planned on the werewolves attacking the kids, Mulciber was probably there on his own business.

"Let's go back, you have a wedding party to attend an I want to see that drag queen finish his show." Arn said.

"You know that is Hermione's dad right?" I laughed as I waved goodbye to Peter and Kingsley.

"NO!" Arn said in shock.

"Yeah, he lost in a challenge during the stag party, Hermione gave him the lowest score for a task we all had to do… I really thought I lost that one but apparently Hermione was more shocked by the lingerie her father bought for her."

"You are joking?" Arn sputtered.

"Nope."

He broke out in a roar of laughter. "Brilliant, evil but brilliant."

We silently slid back into the tent unnoticed. Hermione's father was still on stage finishing up his act. I was relieved to see that Hermione and Ron were both laughing. I sat down next to Ginny, her hand grasped mine immediately.

"Bad news?" she asked in a soft whispered.

"Yes, but it could have been worse. We leave as soon as possible." I told her.

"We?"

"Yeah, you and I are going to the ministry. They locked up Colleen."

She turned to me and opened her mount but I quickly silenced her with a kiss.

"Long story, I'll tell you later." I whispered against her lips.

Apparently Mr. Granger's act had been a great show because suddenly everybody applauded and cheered as he bowed on the stage. He pulled of his wig and revealed his true identity to the whole crowed. Many witches and wizards were shocked, this needed some explanation. Mr. Granger noticed it as well.

"Okay, okay. I'm not going around every day like a Drag Queen. In fact neither of these clothes are mine, I only bought the wig. Fact is I lost a challenge during Ron's stag party with this as a result. One last tip, never ever loose a challenge during a stag party."

It explained enough and everybody laughed happily.

"I still can't believe you all made him do that." Ginny said as she shook her head. "it would have been something for Charlie or George but Hermione's well respected dad."

"That's why it's good this isn't a muggle wedding, or else his patients might hear something." I chuckled.

An hour later I found myself in Ginny's arms, dancing on a lovely tune. Ron and Hermione had cut the cake just a short while before. It was a beautiful little tradition, especially when it turned into a little food fight between Ron and Hermione. I knew somebody had gotten brilliant pictures.

After that it was bouquet throwing time. Ginny joined it rather reluctantly and she didn't catch it either. To many people's surprise it was caught by Angelina, ensuring an endless torrent of teasing, both she and George were victim of that.

Stupidly I got the garter, I wasn't even paying attention, Ron shot it deliberately to me, causing me to be the victim of even more teasing. Even while Gin and I danced in our own little happy bubble, I heard people whispering teasing comments towards me. I couldn't care. I would marry Ginny if she wanted to.

While we danced I told her what had happened in Hogmeade. Though she was shocked to hear it all she couldn't help but laughing at Colleen's antics.

"That girl, seriously." She chuckled.

"Once she gets out of Hogwarts, Gwen will have her hands full with her." I agreed.

"Or you." Ginny said with a pointed look.

"Yes, or me." I chuckled.

"Harry?" She suddenly asked, she looked at me slightly worried.

"Yes, love."

"Are you okay with it all? Being here, not with Kingsley and Arn?"

I thought about it. To be honest I wasn't completely relaxed about it all, I stayed because this all meant so much for Ron and Hermione, even than, had there been kids severely injured of dead I would have left. I would probably had been angry enough to chase that damned werewolves to the end of the world.

I was still angry, very angry with them, they did hurt people, scarred them forever. For what? I couldn't have peace with that but deep down I knew that this was the right thing to do. I needed to learn to trust people around me to do their job.

"Not really, honestly, I'd rather be with Arn and help him with the interrogations but I have to be here for Ron and Hermione. And you." I said as I kissed her softly below her ear. "I need to learn to let other people do their job, this is a good place to start. Had a child been murdered it would have been different."

"I understand. Ron and Hermione have a portkey that leaves in an hour, than we can go."

"An hour?" I asked surprised. Ginny nodded. "I still want to dance with Hermione. She is my sister of sorts after all."

"Than go." Ginny whispered and pushed me towards Ron and Hermione with a wink and a sweet smile before turning towards Charlie and Luna.

I turned around and tapped Ron on his shoulder.

"May I, I haven't danced with your beautiful bride yet and I'm afraid that if I don't do it now I'll never get the chance."

"Of course, mate, but I want her back when you are done with her." Ron joked.

"I don't know, maybe she is too lovely to give back." I smiled and took Hermione in my arms.

"Hey!" she protested.

I smiled and lead her around the dance floor. She laughed happily as we twirled around.

"You look really happy, Hermione." I commented.

"I am happy. Who would have though that!" She laughed loudly. It was good to see my best friend so radiant. "And I can't believe you made my dad do that."

"That wasn't my fault remember, who would have though you didn't like beautiful lingerie. It nearly gave Ron a heart attack, I hope you are wearing it." I teased her.

"I got that heart attack scare as well. Imagine my dad buying my lingerie. The horror!" she mocked.

"Well, your dad had a choice, do the show during the wedding or in a stripper bar, he didn't know that we would be the only audience." I explained. It made her only laugh louder.

We dance for a while just happily chatting until she felt silent.

"Harry, what happened today?" she asked suddenly completely serious.

"What?"

"Oh, Harry, don't fool me. I have noticed things going on. First your talk to Ginny, than to Peter and Kingsley. I saw Peter returning a complete mess."

I didn't reply but twirled her around again.

"Oh please, Harry, it's not fair to keep secrets, not even if it's for that persons own good. You of all people should know that."

That stung a little but she was right.

"You know that's below the belt." I growled at her, but gave in non the less. "I want this to be a happy day for you and Ron, not tainted by idiots."

"It's alright, Harry, if something major happened we would find out anyway. I think we would blame you more if you hadn't told us. Now what happened?"

"The date got leaked." I sighed. "They thought we had all attention focused on the weddings safety."

"You hadn't?"

"We had but once we found out the date got leaked I pulled away all teams but one. There were plenty of battle trained people here, Peter took over coordinations, they found out Greyback and a team of werewolves were out hunting."

"What target?"

"Hogsmeade."

"But … it a Hogsmeade weekend for the kids at school." Hermione said shocked. "that's why Greyback went there, wasn't it?"

I nodded.

"Oh no." Hermione moaned. "How bad was it?"

"Luckily, not too bad. They would have round up most if it wasn't for Colleen."

"Colleen?"

"Mulciber was there as well… you know how Colleen gets when she sees her uncle. They had to stun Colleen for her own safety."

Hermione shook her head and chuckled. "What about the rest, are they all safe?"

"No, not all of them. They all could be treated by madam Pomfrey but one had to go to St. Mungo's."

"Did they arrest anyone?"

"Mulciber and a group of at least five werewolves."

"That's good than." Hermione nodded. "What now?"

"I'm going to hunt. We are going to be a bit more proactive. I'm sure Unbridge is behind this all and I'm going to get her."

"I meant tonight?" Hermione said calmly.

"Oh, Ginny and I are going to get Colleen, she is locked up at the ministry and after that the order and D.A. will have to meet and decide what to do."

"What about me and Ron? And the honeymoon?"

"Oh no." I said loudly and shook my head. "You and Ron are going to enjoy your honeymoon. You are going to stay there and have fun, you are not going to make me regret my decision of telling you all this."

"But…"

"No, buts Hermione, we'll tell you everything when you return. Now let it go and let me worry about it." I told her. I could see she wanted to argue but after a minute she sighed and gave in.

"All right, but you have to keep up updated. Send an owl."

"We will, don't worry." I stopped dancing and let go of her. "Now, I'll bring you back to that fine husband of yours, Mrs. Weasley, so you can enjoy the rest of the night with him."

"Urgh, I'm not yet used to that name, that will take a while."

About thirty minutes later everybody was gathered in a circle with Ron and Hermione in the middle, they held an old teapot and were waving goodbyes to everybody. The pot glowed and Ron and Hermione disappeared.

"Lets go to Colleen." Ginny whispered in my ear.

"In a minute." I said.

I weaved through the crowed to find Bill, told him the whole story quickly and asked him to inform everybody of the Order and D.A. to come to Grimmauld place first thing in the morning.

I went back to Ginny and we left.


	54. Starting a plan

**As many of you asked me to update faster I decided to keep the chapters shorter. it will mean this story will eventually reach above the 100 chapters but I hope I'll be able to update every other week this way.**

**Next story is about the day after the wedding and the attack on Hogsmeade... just an in between chapter.. the next one will follow as soon as possible...**

**Please review**

* * *

**54. Starting a plan.**

After a quick hello to Elian I entered Harry's office, they had placed Colleen there to keep her out of trouble.

"Ginny?" She asked softly. "What are you doing here?"

"Cursing some sense into you Colleen!" I growled. It was quite the understatement to say that I was angry with her. Again she nearly got herself killed. "I thought you would have learned the last time!"

"Hey! There is no need to yell at me like that, Professor Kelly and McGonagall have been angry enough, I have been yelled at enough today. Not to mention stunned by those stupid aurors."

"Fuck! Colleen listen to yourself!" I nearly screamed. Maybe it was not fair to release all my cropped up anger on her instead of Harry, who was great cause of that anger but she needed to learn or she would end up dead. I had seen enough of that, I didn't want to loose and other friend. "Peter stunned you for your own safety! If they hadn't Mulciber would have tortured or murdered you! They needed to get a clear shot and you wouldn't move away! You saw what happened with Luna last time. Thanks to you, at least five of the ten werewolves got away, including Greyback."

"Why is that my fault!"

"Because the aurors were trying to save your ass. Because Harry asked them to keep an eye out for you when we found out Mulciber was with them, because you, instead of allowing yourself to be evacuated, stayed and lost your temper with your uncle again!"

"He came after me!" She yelled back.

"And you should have been the smarter one and got out the way!"

"I have enough of them! They have harassing me through out the year, sending me letters, threatening my mother, my friends. I was ready to kill him and finish it all."

I sighed, I knew of the temper of pure bloods, being one myself of course but those who clung to the dark arts were worse.

"Perhaps, than you aren't that different from them after all." I sighed. It hurt to even say it but it had the effect I hoped for, or at least Colleen stopped raging and screaming, she looked like somebody had hit her in her face.

"How can you say that, Ginny?" she whispered.

"Look at it calmly, you let yourself rallied up very easily, you let your anger rule you, like you said you were ready to kill, had you known how. You would have probably enjoyed killing him. Isn't that the same as the Death Eater do, kill for their own pleasure?"

Colleen didn't say anything but continued to stare at me, I could see she was angry with me but somehow I didn't care about it. I jus wanted her to learn that it's stupid and utterly insane to react like she did.

I knew Harry was even more angry with her, I expected that was why he had chosen to escort Colleen himself. He would yell at her once he finished talking to Elian, or he would just ignore her and take her with him.

We sat in silence as we waited for Harry and Elian to come in, it was uncomfortable but much to my relieve it didn't take long. The door opened and I could see it in Harry's eyes that he was trying to reign in the anger.

"First things first, Colleen, what curse did you shoot at Mulciber before the aurors stunned you?" his voice was cold and calculated. Colleen would have to be really careful about her words or Harry would explode at her.

"I… I don't remember." She said, she didn't look at either of us but away, out of the window.

"Colleen, I don't have time for lies or any of that bullshit, we need Mulciber to be able to talk or think at least, at the moment he can neither." Harry growled.

"What difference does it make, he is out, you can send him to Azkaban and be done with it."

Harry glared at her, sending her further away into the corner. I could see Harry counting to ten in his head, trying to calm down.

"What curse, Colleen?" He said rather impatiently. She didn't answer.

"Fine!" Harry spat. "Miss Kelly would you be so kind to inform Colleen's mother that her daughter will be taken into custody for using a potential deadly curse on a wizard. Further inquiries will be made after the victim is examined by a healer and we have determined what curse is used."

I looked at him in surprise, he didn't wink or notice my glance, he was still glaring at a now completely shocked Colleen, he really was angry with her.

"I will Mr. Potter." Elain said formally and left the office.

Harry turned to me and smiled sadly, he held out his hand.

"Come, love, we need to get back home. We will be busy tomorrow." He whispered. I looked at Colleen, was he serious that he was locking her up in a cell? He noticed my unspoken question and nodded. Even more confused I reached for his hand an let him pulled me out of the office. As soon as the door close, I was met with two more questioning pair of eyes.

"Is this really necessary, Harry?" Elain asked.

"Sadly yes, if she just would have told me what curse she used I would have let her tell her own story and let her go, dropping any investigation and label it all self-defense but as long as she refuses to talk I can't, I need a statement. She has used a potentially deadly curse and that's illegal."

"But she is just a child." Her mother argued.

"I know." Harry sighed. "but I think it's time that Colleen learns that her rash actions have consequences. I promise you nothing will happen to her, she be locked up at least until tomorrow. She has brought great danger on the auror team and herself, besides that she hindered in the arrest of Fenrir Greyback, which I find just as bad. Not to mention the danger she brought on to herself."

"You're right." Colleen's mother sighed. "I had hoped her father's temper wouldn't linger in her but sadly it does. I'll stay in London and be back here tomorrow. At what time will you be here?"

"I hope around eleven."

"That late?" Ms. Hellworn yelped.

"Yes, I have to organize a search for Greyback and Umbridge first. I want this done with before the end of the year."

"I understand. I'll see you around eleven than." Ms. Hellworn said softly. "And Harry, I'm sorry my daughter is behaving like this, it isn't how I raised her and she will be taught better when she comes home for the summer."

"It's alright." Harry said with a shrug.

We left with a heavy feeling, neither of us could or wanted to talk about it. It was a sad ending to what could have been a really happy day. Again that happiness was ruined by those damn dark wizards.

I thought about what would have happened when we hadn't known about Greyback's plans. Would he have succeeded in killing children. It would really have been disastrous for our world. Sometimes I wondered if we shouldn't go living in the muggle world, wouldn't that be saver. Sometimes I just really wanted to get away from it all. the constant danger of loosing people you care about, the constant fear of the next great dark wizard.

We walked back to Grimmauld place, it was cold outside but we both needed the time. It was already two in the morning when Kreacher welcomed us. We both crashed the moment we saw the bed.

In silence we undressed and slid under the warm covers. Harry wrapped his arm around me and pulled me against him. It felt good to be back in his arms, it was soothing. I needed the warmth he always gave me. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply.

I was almost sleeping when I heard Harry talk.

"Gin, I'm sorry about Colleen." He whispered.

"It's okay, Harry, I understand why you did it."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, just before you got in I even accused her of being like her father and uncle, even that didn't got to her, not really. She needs to learn the consequences of her actions. I know she hasn't really seen what has happened but I can't stand loosing an other friend, even if that friend will be angry with me forever."

"Still, I felt really bad for doing this to her." Harry sighed. I wiggled a bit until I faced him and kissed him softly.

"Don't be." I whispered.

"I wonder why she didn't just tell which curse she used." Harry said sadly.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Maybe she really can't remember but I think it's more that she is embarrassed. She knows she used something that she shouldn't even know. Perhaps, her father learned her a few things before they left him."

Harry nodded, he rested his lips against my forehead and sighed.

"I hate it." He whispered.

"What?"

"That there are still people going about trying to do evil things, hurting others and trying to control people's lives. I always thought that once I did what I had to do with Tom it would stop, that the world would be this fairytale like happy place where magic exists and everybody is happy."

I looked up at him, I knew he was serious but those words coming from him were actually really funny but even in the darkness with only moonlight I could see his eyes being clouded by sadness.

"Silly you." I said with a soft kiss. "You know life can never be a fairytale, not when there is money, fame, and so much power to wield. There will always be somebody who wants more power."

"I still don't like it." He grumbled.

"I know love, I don't like it either. If it would make things better I would move away, even leave this country but running away won't help, sometimes you just have to let it go. You'll never be really happy if you don't."

"I know, love but it's not easy."

"No, it isn't." I agreed. I reached up to kiss him but before we could get into anything heated we both realized that we were exhausted and held each other while we feel asleep.

_22__nd__ of December 1999_

The room was filled with people, friends, family, auror team leaders, head of the auror office and minister for magic. All attending the first official Order and D.A. meeting. All were still very tired for the events from the days before.

It atmosphere was a bit strange, Dumbledore was gone as a leader, there was no Sirius arguing, no Severus Snape complaining but somehow it still held that dark grim feeling as a few years ago. It couldn't be denied that every attack was horrific, but luckily things weren't as bad as they had been with Voldemort. We all could feel the difference. Not to mention the fact that we were now organizing this meetings and not locked out of this room, eavesdropping to get some news.

Harry sat at the end of the table. He wasn't ready yet to start the meeting, Peter had brought him scout reports on Umbridge and Greyback but also the Prophet. And the prophet wasn't nice. The attack on children was a great shock to the wizarding world but the Prophet was already reporting on the reasons behind why the attack had even been possible. They already pointed the finger towards the auror office attending a wedding rather than protecting those who need it.

"Harry?" I whispered as I placed my hand on his shoulder. He looked up and smiled softly. He closed the Prophet and looked around, everybody was there. He sighed and got up.

"Thank you all for coming." Harry started. "I have invited you all here because I trust you. This is house is a meeting place and refuge for me and those I trust. I asked you here to discus a new plan of approach against Greyback, Umbridge and the last of the Death Eaters. What we have been doing isn't working. I want that evil hag and her puppy locked up or dead. I want peace and quiet for at least the coming five years. We need that, Kingsley needs his chance to build up our world again."

Harry took a sip of his strong coffee before continuing.

"I don't have a plan yet, I don't even know how to go about this, that is why I called you all here. We need to come up with a plan. We are, all battle worn, we all have been through the war and learned from it, we should know how to go about this. I'd like us all to brainstorm, discus and that we together come up with something."

"What about Hermione, she is so smart, we need her mind here." George said.

"No, Ron and Hermione are on their honeymoon, they deserve this happiness, I'm not going to call them back for nothing."

"They should at least know." Mom said.

"They already know." Harry sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "I told Hermione while we were dancing last night, she had noticed something was up."

"Why here?" Peter suddenly asked.

"Because we still have a leak inside the ministry. There is still somebody that is under their control. I trust each person I have invited here, the heads of the auror teams are regularly scanned and checked as you know, so I know that the leak is neither one of you. Having this meeting here prevents anything leaking out too soon." Harry logically stated.

"Makes sense." Arn commented. "But what now? How do we come up with a plan?"

"We need all the information first." Neville said.

"Okay, this is what we know for sure. Either Umbridge or Greyback is calling the shots right now, after yesterday I'm inclined to say, Greyback. I consider Umbridge to be smarter than going about their business so openly. We know they have gathered a group of very skilled young wizards and witches around them but there are only a few from the old Death Eater group. They are trying to persuade the families of old Death Eaters to join." Harry paused and started pacing again.

"We know they have their headquarters in Scotland, that's where I have been posting for the last two weeks. Umbridge and Greyback are there, regularly they are visited."

"Wait a second." George called. "If you know where they are, why haven't you arrested them yet?"

"Easy." Arn said. "The last few times we tried that we ended up with a lot of victims on our side and non on theirs. We need to know what we are up against first, booby traps, wards, creatures and not to mention the number of witches and wizards inside the property. We are not going to risk any more injuries."

"That's why it's so important that we can interview Mulciber." Harry explained.

"You can't?" dad asked.

"Not yet, we hope we can soon."

"What happened?" dad pressed.

"Uhm, Mulciber got cursed yesterday and the person who did it refuses to tell us what curse, because she is a minor we can't take the information by force."

"Colleen?" Luna asked. Though she was always a bit dreamy, she wasn't an idiot. Luna always saw straight to the point, her big eyes could literally look right through you. Harry only nodded. Nobody else asked why, or what would happen now, Harry's eyes were enough to stop anyone to question.

"Okay, how are we going to do this?" Ann asked. I didn't know her very well but Harry spoke highly of her, according to him she thought in solutions not in problems and Harry found that very refreshing. Ann was a half-blood, her father a scientist in the muggle world, Harry had told me. I knew he found it fascinating to discover how highly educated muggles saw the magical world once they knew it existed. He could talk hours about how he and Ann had discussed it.

"I have to get to the ministry before eleven so I don't have much time to sit out a complete brainstorm session." Harry sighed. "what about we all go about our business today, think about it for a while and meet back here tomorrow night?"

To everybody that was an agreeable idea and it gave us all some time to think about a solution.

Shortly after that most people had left, many had jobs to do or families to see. Only Bill, Charlie and Luna stayed behind. We all felt down, maybe a bit defeated. It felt like we were all back at were we started when we first set foot in this house, remade or not. Kreacher brought some small snacks onto the table but neither of us were very hungry.

"Is Colleen in trouble?" Luna asked softly.

"Yes." I nodded. "She refuses to tell what curse she has used."

"What did you do about it?" Bill asked Harry.

"Put her in jail, I couldn't do much else." Harry sighed. "She has to learn that her actions have consequences."

"How come she cursed Mulciber?" Bill asked. "We tried that often, it isn't an easy feat."

Harry told them the whole story of how Mulciber got distracted and Colleen a lucky shot.

"She is probably too embarrassed to tell about what curse she used." Luna commented.

"We figured that but she has to learn that it isn't child's play any more, in school you can refuse or lie but not now, not when many lives are at stake. We need additional information." Harry explained.

"We should go to her, it's almost eleven." I whispered.

"Are you coming?" Harry asked me.

"If that's okay with you."

Harry nodded and got up.

"You can stay of you want to, Kreacher can make lunch if you want to. We'll see you either when we get back or tomorrow." Harry said to the others and with a quick goodbye we left.

With a brisk pace we walked down the cell block, behind us the guard. It was always a horrid area of the ministry, dark and slightly damp. It reminded me of the school dungeons.

"She is in the last cell, Mr. Potter." The guard said and he left us to it.

Harry pulled out his wand and waved it to activate the lights at the end of the corridor. With an other wave the last cell door sprung open.

"Hello?" A careful voice came from it. It was Colleen but it quivered and sounded scared. "Who is there?"

I glanced at Harry and he nodded.

"Colleen?" I called out.

"Ginny?" Came from the end of the hall. It was a soft whisper, scared. I glanced at Harry again, he seemed to be fighting his emotions to be able to do his job. His eyes showed his compassion but his lips were pressed in a thin angry line. He glanced back and nodded again.

"Yes, I'm here." I walked a bit away from Harry towards the cell door. With one last glance at Harry and walked straight to my friend.

"Ginny!" she yelped, before I could smile, or react in anyway she was out of the cell and into my arms. "Oh, Ginny, I'm so sorry. You were right. I'm like them… What did I do. I'm so stupid. Don't be angry… is Harry angry…oh Merlins wand, I should have just told him…" she sobbed on my shoulder.

"Yes, you should have." Harry stated loudly, his voice strict and harsh.

Colleen looked up from my shoulder and at Harry, I could feel her quiver with fear.

"I'm so sorry." Colleen whispered at him.

I stepped back and tried to let her go but she clung to me. I couldn't pry her fingers of my arm.

"Sorry isn't going to get you anywhere, Colleen. We need some information before it's too late." Harry said as he walked towards us.

"I don't know what came over me, Harry, I'm so ashamed." Colleen muttered. "I never used it before, I read about it in one of my dad's books."

"What was the curse?" Harry asked again, his voice still cold and harsh.

"Cerebrum Mortuus." She muttered. I had never heard of that curse before, I didn't even knew what it did or what it meant.

"But it didn't go well, right?" Harry pressed, I understood by his shocked look that he knew exactly what it was.

"No, in the chaos around me, I got the wand movement wrong, I'm not sure if I finished the curse or not." Her voice was higher with the fear I could feel trembling through her.

"That explains a lot." Harry murmured. For a second he closed his eyes and pointed his wand to the other end of the hallway. The large pale white stag erupted and sprinted off.

Harry's whole demeanor changed completely as he opened his eyes again, they were softer and a gentle smile crossed his face. He opened his arms and looked at Colleen.

"Come here." He whispered. She looked up and me, I nodded for her to go to him. She let go of me and ran into Harry's waiting arms.

"I'm really sorry, Harry. I should have told you, I was so ashamed."

"You should have told me." Harry said, his voice much friendlier than before. "If you had done that you would have slept in your comfy warm four-poster bed at Hogwarts, I would have tucked you in for all I care, maybe professor Kelly would have had you do lines but that would have been the worst of it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I would have done the whole thing off as self-defense and be done with it."

"Oh no! I so messed it all up." Colleen groaned. "Mum will be so angry with me."

"That you'll have to find out yourself, your mother is waiting for you at the guard's desk."

"Really? I can just go to her?" Colleen asked.

"Yes, I'll stop by at Hogwarts later to talk to you about the attack."

"Thank you, Harry!" She yelled and hugged him again. "Ginny!" She ran to me and hugged me. "Bye! See you later!" and she ran off.

"Are you sure you just let her go now?" I asked.

"Yeah, I really would have done it last night if she hadn't been so stubborn."

"That curse she used, you seemed to know it?" I carefully asked.

"and you don't?" He asked surprised.

"No. I have never had any interests in the Dark Arts, only that I could defend myself from it."

Harry and I started walking towards the elevators. I looked at him, a deep thinking line crossed his forehead.

"That makes sense." He mused. "I learned about it during the war, because we were at a dead end and didn't know what to do I started to read about curses and dark arts in the books Hermione brought along, in the hope of finding something, the Brain Dead curse is one of the few that struck me as a horrible but useful curse."

"The Brain Dead Curse?" I asked surprised.

"Yes, when it is correctly preformed it incapacitate your opponent because functions of the brain starts to shut down, brain cells die, it's not immediately, according to the book you notice it, one by one your abilities fail and your system shuts down. In a good curse it takes a bit more than two weeks to complete but from the start you feel unable to do much or think much."

"Colleen's curse wasn't good." I pointed.

"No, it wasn't. For the curse to function correctly has to be finished, the wand movement and the words start it but the movements have to be completed for the curse to be irreversible. Now that I know what Colleen did I have hope that the healers can stop the curse and reverse it."

I nodded.

We made it to the exit of the cell blocks where we were met by Elian Kelly.

"Colleen and her mother are already up in the Atrium." She explained. Harry and I nodded. "She'll have detention for the rest of the year."

"Don't be too hard on her, I think she is punished enough already." Harry mused.

"Did she tell you everything?" Elian asked.

"No, not yet, I know what curse she used and that's enough for now, I'll stop by later for a complete interview." Harry said with a smile.

Elian nodded. Together we walked to the atrium, Harry and Elian discussed the injured students and the attack. Elian had been in the broomsticks when it happened so she could evacuate the larger part of the students rather quickly. The injured students were a group that had walked away from the village. They were all recovering quickly and only one had actual bite wounds, they weren't as bad as Bill's but the kid was still treated at St. Mungo's.

"His parents wanted that." Elian shrugged. "Poppy wasn't happy about it."

"I imagine that. It sure had to hurt her pride." I chuckled.

"It did but the parents insisted that their son would be checked over by a friend, who is a famous healer."

Colleen and her mother were sitting at the edge of the new fountain. I hadn't seen it finished yet. I thought it looked beautiful in the great lobby, it was a tribute to all that had fought and survived the wars against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. All that resembled Harry was a lightning bolt in the middle of it. Harry had hated it but he couldn't persuade Kingsley to change the design.

"Hey, are you ready?" Harry asked them.

"Ready for what?" Colleen asked carefully.

"To return to Hogwarts." Elian said quite strictly. "Your lessons start again tomorrow, you still have a week of school before Christmas break."

Colleen sighed and nodded. "I have Quidditch practice also." She smiled.

We walked them to the exit, Colleen already in full mode about Quidditch. She talked me through her training and her practice schedules. Colleen chattered on about how she was again invited for the annual holiday camp. She hoped that Gwen would offer her a position this time, she knew it was unlikely but still she hoped.

"I'll drop by tomorrow shortly before dinner to talk with the injured students and Colleen." Harry told Elian as we reached the exit.

"Do you wish to stay for dinner?" Elian asked. "I could have an extra seat set up for you."

"No, I'll dine at home. It will be just a short trip but I was hoping if you would join us for dinner and later for a meeting." Harry said.

"A meeting?"

"Yeah, tell Minerva I told you about our meeting of tomorrow night, she'll inform you." Harry said with a quick glance around him.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." Elian said as she quickly got in that this wasn't something to discus in public.

We said goodbye to them and walked back to Harry's office. I hadn't been in his office for a while and I was shocked to see it now. It was a mess, stacks of papers everywhere, letters were flying around, leaflets dotted the floor and nothing with filed away. It was clear Harry hadn't been focused on paper work.

"Don't mind the mess." He muttered as he closed the door behind me.

"Mess?" I yelped. "That's quite the understatement."

"Yeah." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I haven't been in the office much, lately."

"No, that is clear." I said as I looked around. I wasn't the most organized person but I sure did better than this. Mom learned me quite a lot of spells that would be useful when it came to archiving and cleaning up paper work. "Do you need help with this all?"

"You don't have to do that, Ginny. Go home and enjoy your day off, this will be just boring to you."

"I don't mind, I don't have much else to do. I'd rather spend my time with you." I said with a smile. "And you need help, that much is clear."

Harry looked up at me and sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"I can do some spells that will file each document to a pile of a certain topic." I started carefully.

"Can you?" Harry asked surprised. "I haven't been that good with those spells."

I laughed at him and nodded. I started to wave my wand and mutter the words to accompany the spell. It wasn't difficult you just have to tell the themes and the documents would sort themselves. After five minutes of steady wand movement everything was piled in six neat piles.

"Done." I said with a smile. "you have now six topics, Umbridge, Greyback, Death Eaters, Legislations, the leak and incoming mail about other things."

"You are brilliant!" Harry said with a happy smile and pulled me into his arms for a very heated kiss. His lips were very demanding and his tongue charged for battle. Just when I really got into it he pulled away, I groaned against the loss.

"I know, love, we will spend some time together tonight." He whispered as he placed some kissed at the base of my neck.

"Hmmm, I guess my fantasy of that desk will have to wait than."

His head snapped up and his eyes burned into mine. "Keep that thought." He growled. He turned around and sat down at his desk.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked as I conjured up a seat to the left side of his desk. He looked around thoughtfully for a while, glancing at the piles in front of him.

"Can you go through the pile with incoming mail for me first. See if there is anything useful in that." He asked. I nodded and pulled the pile towards me. Suddenly a tray and a bin appeared. "Press related things can go in the bin, as go all useless things. Fan mail can go in the tray, I might want to read those at some point in my life, according to Kingsley."

I laughed and set to work. I never really knew how much Harry had to deal with by just being famous. There were a lot of letters from press, international press and gossip magazines asking for interviews or pictures but also a lot of fan mail.

"Hey Harry?"

"Hmm."

"Can I read a few of these?" I asked as I held up a stack of letters.

"Yeah, if you want to, the are all checked for dark stuff and all."

I opened a few letters and read them through. The nerve of these women! Seriously it was ridiculous. One asked Harry to marry her, that was actually a really sweet letter, an other one was much more demanding, she had everything planned already, she even had the nerve to ask him to break off any contact with Hermione, because she was too popular and that was a bad influence on him.

There was a letter from an older woman, inviting Harry to have sex with her daughter so that they would have strong and powerful offspring. I couldn't help but snort at that.

"What?" Harry asked.

"These are ridiculous." I said as I held them up.

"I know but Kingsley won't allow me to throw them away."

"Why not?"

"He thinks I should at least know I'm the hero. Every time I try to throw them away, they come after me as howlers. Kingsley's charm work on my office."

I couldn't help but laugh. Laying aside these letters I continued with the pile. I didn't read anymore fanmail, they were mostly very aggressive or really sweet but really bad for my temper.

I used the same spell as before to separate the fanmail from the other letters. There weren't many letters left after that. A small pile lay still in front of me. I started to open them and read them through. After half an hour I concluded that non of the letters were very interesting, nor did they held new information.

Harry was still working through the Umbridge pile. I watched him as he worked through it, sometimes he would wave his wand over a piece of parchment, other times the parchment ended up in a large bin.

It was strangely fascinating to see him work like that. His glassed a bit low on his nose, his hair all wild from the many times he had run his hand through it. His mouth slightly open and his tongue sometimes sticking out in concentration. I don't think I had seen him more stunning than this.

"What?" Harry asked as he noticed me stare at him.

"Nothing." I shrugged. "You look so sexy when you are working like that. How come you didn't work like this at school?"

"What?" He laughed. "I did work at school. I'm Hermione's friend remember! She made me work."

"But never like this. Did you know you look like you had sex right now. Hair wild, lips wet, blotches on your cheeks." I teased him. Not that it wasn't the truth, he sure had sex hair.

Harry looked at me, his mouth a bit further open in shock. I leaned forward to kiss him, it was just irresistible.

"Gin…" He growled. It was like a warning but it didn't sound to serious.

"Harry." I moaned back as I leaned further in.

"Ginny we can't do this here." He whispered.

"Why not. Lock it, silence it."

"Can't, I need to stay reachable for the teams." He moaned.

"Oh please." I groaned as I pulled back. "We haven't had sex in two weeks. I miss you." I complained.

"I know, I'm sorry." Harry said. He leaned back against the chair with his eyes closed. I couldn't believe he was rejecting me, he never did that. Somehow the shy little school girl came back and wondered if it was just because of the location.

I decided to give it an other shot. I silently slid out of my chair and straddled him. His eyes flew open and darkened as he saw me. Again I leaned him to kiss him, my hands slid over his arms towards his chest. Softly kneading him.

His hands flew to my hips and he grinded me against him.

"I missed you too." He whispered. His lips trailing down my neck and nibbling my skin.

"Please, Harry." I moaned as I grinded harder against. I could feel is hard need for me. His hands reached for my breast, cupping them, kneading them softly. My fingers ran over the buttons of his shirt, slowly opening them, I needed the connection to his skin.

Harry was about to pull my shirt up and over my head when a patronus entered the room.

"_Umbridge on the move, Greyback not with her_."

Harry groaned and let go of me. "That's why we can't do this here, not right now." He said as he pointed towards the spot where the patronus evaporated.

"Damn." I groaned.

"I have to get to Peter, he'll be waiting for further orders and I want to see myself what Umbridge is up to." Harry said as he looked up at me.

"What if I don't want to move?" I said challengingly.

"I'll have to carry you along. Lucky for me you aren't that heavy." Harry laughed. To prove his point he heaved himself up with me in his arms. Suddenly he lifted me up further and threw me over his shoulder. "Let's go." He said, picked up his wand and walked out of the office, with me kicking and screamed over his shoulder.

"Harry!"

"What?"

"Put me down!"

"No."

"Oh come on!"

"No, you didn't want to get off me, remember."

He was having way too much fun with it.

"Please, Harry. I'm getting sick if you keep this up."

Harry laughed and stopped walking, he sat me back on my feet. Only than I noticed that the whole ministry was watching us. Some people in shock, others laughed but many gossiped about it. I couldn't help but blush a bit.

Harry didn't even seem to notice or he had gotten really good in ignoring stares. He held out his hand to me and waiting patiently as I struggled to catch my breath.

"Are you coming?" He asked.

"To where?"

"To see what Peter has found and what that witch is up to."

"You want me to come with you?"

"Yeah, you can see what I have been neglecting you for." He said a bit ashamed.

"Oh." I said shocked. I was a little taken aback by his comment. "You don't have to do that, I trust it was for a good reason."

"Nothing will ever be a good reason to neglect you, love. Come on, maybe you'll enjoy a trip through the woods."

I looked at him if he really wanted this, when he smiled and nodded I took his hand and he took me along with me.


	55. The Hag and the Spy

**_Thank you all for your reviews. I love the long review as much as the short ones. I was happy to see nobody minded that the chapters are shorter..._**

**_I know many of you want to see Harry pop the question... you'll have to wait for at least a few chapters longer. Harry has a plan to make it romantic. I'll spill that it has something to do with the House in Godric's Hollow...so please be patient..._**

_**I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter.. please review...**_

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**55. The hag and the spy.**

The work Harry did wasn't nearly as exciting as I first thought. It existed out of hours of watching somebody silently. Looking for details, not moving and barely talking.

I had always thought being an auror was exciting work, hunting down dark wizards and dueling but we were tracking Umbridge now for three hours and nothing happened. I wondered if she knew she was being watched, I wondered why Harry didn't go for the kill and took her down but he just sat there, crouched down by a tree a few feet in front of me, only watching the witch.

We had found Peter to the edge of the forest, he was waiting for us to take us in the direction where Umbridge had walked. To my surprise she went towards a village, walking. When I asked why she didn't apparate to her destination, Harry explained that her magical signature was being tracked, they would know where she went to.

I asked them if they were tracking Greyback as well but they weren't. Apparently working at the ministry meant you had to submit your magical signature for your own safety, just like they do with underage wizards and witches. Kingsley had banished that rule for adults, claiming that it was breaking every privacy rule adults had but it helped them finding Umbridge when she did use magic.

"Harry?" I whispered as I crept up to him.

"Yes." He hissed, his eyes never left the door of the store Umbridge had just entered.

"Why aren't you arresting her now? She is away from the protection of the wards at that house and she is alone."

"Are you sure she is alone?" He asked.

"Yeah, we saw her, there was nobody with her."

"Nobody we could _see_." He said.

"You think she isn't alone?"

Harry nodded, he pointed towards the footsteps in the snow. There was one set of very clear tracks, they belonged to Umbridge, the high heel of her pink pumps were clearly visible. I didn't see any other tracks, so I looked up back at Harry in confusion.

"See the brushed area next to her trail?"

I looked again but I couldn't see what he meant.

"Look closer, there is a small trail that is flatter than the rest." He whispered.

I did as he said, I looked for a small detail in a sea of white snow flakes, after a few minutes I saw it, like a ghost trail.

"Somebody wears an invisibility cloak?" I murmured.

"Yeah, I didn't expect her to go out alone. So far I know there is only one extra but it could be a trained Death Eater, or Greyback."

"Still, it's three against two."

Harry didn't react, the door of the shop opened and the bow wearing pink hag walked out. She was carrying a bag with newly bought things. I wondered what she had gotten from a muggle store.

Harry pushed me backward against the tree trunk, I almost yelped but he quickly covered my mouth with his hand. He had his wand raised up high and I could see his eyes scanning the ground. It took a few minutes for Umbridge to be away for enough for Harry to breath freely again.

Released me and held him hand out to help me up. I opened my mouth to asked why he had pushed me away but he quickly raised his finger to his lips to silence me. He gave me a small push in my lower back to indicate that I should move.

After a few steps we saw Umbridge turning the corner, she wasn't heading home. I glanced at Harry to see him frown. He waved his hand towards Peter who had been hiding further away from the store. Within seconds Peter was next to us.

"She isn't alone." Peter whispered.

"How many?" Harry asked.

"At least one." Peter said quickly and Harry nodded.

"Call your team, we are going to give it a try. Ginny, I want you to stay with Peter's team, be prepared for a fierce battle." Harry commanded.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Arrest a witch, you guys are going to cover for me. I don't believe she is accompanied by only one but this is the best shot we get."

Peter nodded and grabbed me by the arm, he was already moving away from Harry. I felt very uneasy about all this. It was never a good idea to leave Harry alone.

"Come, Ginny, we have to hurry."

"We can't leave Harry alone." I argued.

"We won't, I called my team already." He said as he pointed towards a patronus that vanished a second later. "They are coming already, we need to find cover so we can get a clear shot at Umbridge and who ever is with her."

I nodded and ran after him. Peter took a long detour but to my surprise we found ourselves opposite of Harry who had just confronted Umbridge.

"Where is your team?" I hissed.

"Don't know, they should be here any second now." Peter said a bit bewildered as he glanced around him. "They should have gotten the message by now."

But the team didn't show up, I was getting nervous, I couldn't hear what Umbridge and Harry were saying against each other but from the look on Harry's face it wasn't very friendly. I gasped as Harry suddenly drew his wand and dodged to the side. Loud pops cracked in the air and suddenly dark dressed witches and wizards appeared around them.

"Shit!" Peter cursed. "That isn't my team, come on."

By the time we made it to Harry, he was already in full duel with three people. Peter shot a stunner towards a fourth wizard that tried to sneak up behind Harry, he missed but drew the attention away from Harry. I counted at least seven Death Eater types but Umbridge and her companion were gone. I looked around just in time to see the pink cloak of Umbridge running away from the battle. Not hesitating one second I ran after her, sending stunners and my famous bat-bogey hex towards her. Her shield was very strong but she couldn't run and shield at the same time. She turned around and shot a dark blue curse towards me. I had just time enough to pull up a strong enough shield. Still the shear power of the curse blew me backward. Umbridge laughed.

"So useful, Fudge was… he forbade me to teach you… so useful!" she crackled like a mad woman.

She was right in some way, of course but Harry had learned us a thing or two in the D.A. Once I regained my balance I threw an other one of my bat-bogey hexes at her. It wasn't a lethal curse but I was sure that Harry preferred to kill her himself.

Every one of my curses was met with one of her, she sure was a properly trained duelist. The only indication of a weak foe was her mad crackling laugh she let out every time I had to dodge a curse. I recognized a lot of Cruciatus curses.

I got hit ones, it was a weak cutting curse and it brushed the top of my arm, it stung and bled a bit but it wasn't anything that couldn't be healed. Though I knew I would be completely bruised by the many times I had to dodge and hit the floor or some rock.

After what felt like a long time I managed to get to her. One of my hexes broke through her shield and blasted her of her feet and into a pile of snow. I didn't think twice and shot a stunner towards her, hitting her full in the back. I ran towards her, kicked her on her back and sneered at her. (Malfoy would be proud of my sneer).

"Who is untrained, huh?" I growled, I snatched her wand out of her hand and broke it in two. "I'm ready to tortured you for hours. You deserved to be tortured after what you have done. Sadly for me, I know Harry want to hurt you so badly. It would be a shame if I did it." I couldn't help but laugh. I wasn't even sure if she could hear me but I surely enjoyed threatening the old hag. After a second of enjoying the feeling I realized Harry was still dueling.

"Harry!" I screamed over the loud noises that came from the road. I hoped he could hear me and would come here. The sounds of battle in the distance started to fade away and all I could do was pray that Harry and Peter had won their battle.

I paced around Umbridge, I could have levitated her and taken her to where I had left Harry but I wasn't sure if it was wise to take her there. Her followers might try and free her. So I waited for Harry, I felt it was the safest option.

Suddenly it was totally silent, not even the birds dared to chirp. I didn't hear the battle anymore. My eyes scanned for movement rapidly, my wand ready to battle and my ears straining to hear anything. I could only hear my own breathing.

I bit my lip as I prayed that Harry would be alright, they had been two against seven.

To my left trees rustled, I took a step back and crouched down a bit, ready to duck when spells would be fired.

"Ginny!" I heard somebody calling, it didn't came from my left but from down the road. "Ginny!" it was Harry, he was looking for me. I didn't dare to call out loudly, I was still scanned the trees to my left for the source of the sounds I heard.

With my free hand I reached for my bracelet and pressed my fingers in to the metal. I hoped, that I could activate it. I didn't feel the metal heating like it normally would but it did gave off a bit of a blue glow.

A crack of wood to my left made me jump and suddenly I saw a figure moving towards me. I recognized that frame everywhere. Greyback. I hissed in anger. That man had a few things to account for. Slowly he walked closer to me, I could already see his menacing smile.

"Well, well. Little miss Weasley is all alone." He growled. "I wonder if you taste as good as you look."

"Try and you die." I hissed.

"You couldn't even if you wanted to, you are not a killer." He laughed.

"Try me. You have enough to account for with me."

He laughed and stepped closer, I slightly trembled, I didn't know if it was in fear or due to the overload of adrenaline in my body. He wore stinking blood covered clothes, his face was slightly red with blood residue. He was so filthy. In a silent prayer I wished for Harry to hurry up and find me.

I felt disgusted as I saw his eyes scan my body.

"You look delicious. So many ways I could have you. Tasting your flesh will be the last thing I do." He leered.

I nearly gagged.

"Stay away from me, you piece of scum." I growled.

"I don't think I will. You are simply too mouth watering to let go." He took a deep breath. "that smell. Hmmmmm."

I was seriously sick. I felt that I would throw up soon. I noticed his hand moved, like it ghosted over my body. I wanted to scream.

"You look scared, little girl." The werewolf whispered as he stepped even closer.

My body trembled even more, I was sure he would attack soon. I glanced at his right hand to see if he was preparing to fight with his wand of with his hands.

Only then did I notice that he didn't carry a wand, he was defenseless and I laughed loudly. He took a step back from me as the sound of laughter reached his ears. I had to admit it sounded a bit maniacal. A flitter of confusion crossed his face.

"You werewolf are wandless. Why should I be afraid." I laughed at him, pointing my wand directly towards his heart.

"That doesn't mean I can't harm you." He growled, baring his teeth.

"Try and die." I repeated, all fear was gone, one simple movement and he would be gone. dead, tortured. Who would care. I could finish him.

I was prepared for him to leap towards me but he suddenly glanced towards the road and we both could hear footsteps coming towards us. I cursed myself for letting the sound distract me, I had a clear shot at him and I failed to do so. By the time I remembered to fire a spell he smiled and apparated away.

"Fuck!" I screamed. In my frustration I kicked Umbridge hard in the face, I couldn't care less.

"Ginny!" Harry screamed as he came around the corner. He looked bad.

"Harry!" I called in relieved. "Your bleeding." I stated as he reached me.

"Yeah, Peter is in a worse state. We have to get him to St. Mungo's."

"Look." I said as I pointed towards the pile of pink fabric.

"You got Umbridge?" Harry gasped. He glance down at me before he walked toward the hag.

"She is stunned." I pointed out the obvious.

"How?"

I launched into my story and explained everything to him in a minute. I even told him about Greyback. I didn't leave out the words Greyback had said to me. Harry turned green and almost threw up himself. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me.

"He won't hurt you, I won't let him." Harry murmured.

"I know, next time I see that piece of shit he is dead."

"We'll see. As long as you don't get hurt." Harry said. He kissed my forehead and stepped back. He turned to look at Umbridge.

"If I had known this would happen I would have brought you along much sooner." He said with a chuckle. "You have done a great job catching her. As much as I hate to admit it, Umbridge is a good fighter."

"It wasn't easy." I murmured.

"Still you caught her, that's impressive." Harry mused.

"Don't make it more than it is. Nobody needs to know I did it. Gwen will kill me if she finds out I'm risking my life in my free time."

"Probably." Harry chuckled, "Come on lets move her, Peter needs to get to the hospital."

"You take Umbridge to the ministry, I'll take Peter to St. Mungo's." I suggested.

Harry looked at me thoughtfully for a second and nodded. He pointed his wand at Umbridge, conjured some roped around her and levitated her.

"Where is her wand?" He asked. I chuckled and held up the two pieces of what her wand had been. "Good." Harry smiled. "I'll take them to the ministry. They can be examined and added to the record."

We hurried back towards Peter, how was still laying down. He was covered with a blanket, his eyes closed and blood flowing out several cuts.

"Peter." I whispered as I sank to my knees next to him. He slowly opened his eyes but closed them rather quickly again. He tried to talk but no sound came from him. "Shhh, don't talk, I'll take you to a healer."

I turned to Harry.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, all I know it was a red colored curse, he was lifted in the air and thrown against the tree." Harry quickly explained. "I have to go, Ginny, get him to St. Mungo's."

"I will. Will I see you there?"

"Yes, I'll get there as soon as I finish at the ministry."

With a quick kiss Harry took Umbridge away and I apparated Peter to St. Mungo's.

It was quiet in the lobby of the hospital.

"Hello." I called to the medi-witch that was sitting behind the desk, she looked up and got up immediately.

"Miss Weasley, What happened?" she asked as she conjured a stretcher. Somehow I wasn't even surprised she knew who I was, it had it's advantages, it made explaining a lot easier.

"He was with Harry and me, we were trying to arrest somebody, they got in a fight, Harry says Peter was hit by a red curse, some sort of blasting curse or something. The curse lifted him of his feet and slammed him into a tree."

The medi-witch nodded helped me place Peter on a stretcher.

"I take it this is Peter?" She asked me.

"Oh, yes." I said with a blush, in my need for help I forgot that Peter wasn't as well known as Harry and me.

"Alright, lets get him to a healer." The woman said with a friendly smile. I followed her down to hall into an area of the hospital I had never seen before. A sign above the hallway stated '_first aid area'_ explained enough. We entered a large room, it was dived in smaller sections that were dived by curtain. Immediately a healer came rushing towards us.

He took a look at Peter.

"Auror?" he asked me, I nodded in conformation. "Follow me."

We followed the friendly looking healer towards the far end of the room, I noticed that we passed through some wards, this part was better protected than the first area.

Once they placed Peter on a bed the Healer named Mark asked me what happened and I retold Harry's story. He seemed to be impressed with the fact that Peter was working with the famous Harry Potter.

"I must ask you to wait outside in the lobby. I'll come for you as soon as we are finished examining him." The healer said.

"Oh, okay. Will it take long?"

"No, about fifteen minutes."

I nodded and waved goodbye. Fifteen minutes was enough time to get something to drink from the cafeteria. I made my way up, ordered a large mug of tea and a small bag of chocolate chip cookies. I decided to drink and eat in the lobby while I waited for news on Peter and for Harry.

I took the elevator down but it stopped a floor below.

"Neville?" I asked as I recognized the man walking in.

"Oh, hey Ginny. What are you doing here? Something happened to Harry?"

"Oh, no. Harry is fine." I said with a reassuring smile. I quickly told him why I was at St. Mungo's and what had happened in Scotland earlier that afternoon.

"Really?" He gasped. "Got you Umbridge?"

"Yes! Harry is locking her up as we speak." I said with a smile.

"That brilliant. Is Peter okay?"

"I think he is. I'm not sure but the healer is working on him. I got a bit of time to grab something to drink and to eat." I answered. The elevator stopped and we headed towards the lobby. "Are you here to visit your parents?" I asked as I sat down.

"Yes." Neville sighed and sat down next to me, he looked very down.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"No, not more wrong than it was before. I had an appointment with my parents main healer." Neville sighed, like Harry he had the habit of running his hand through his hair when he felt anxious or disturbed. "Last year they had started some trial treatment on some of their long turn patients. They were really hopeful that with a combination of potions, physical therapy, legimency and mental therapy, they could start to restore their mental condition. They are trying to reorganize the mind, finding and removing blockage the torture created. It's all very complicated but they had some success on other patients in China with this treatment. We had a small bit of hope it would work for my parents."

I held my breath, could it really be. I would pray every night for his parents if it was possible. Neville deserved to have his parents back. Just like Harry, only I honestly considered it was better that your parents would be dead than how Neville's parents ended up.

"Did they?" I whispered.

"Yes, they had, slightly." Neville said with a small smile. "The healers say I'm too impatient but after the first month we saw improvement. Both mom and dad were able to make sounds, like speaking, like a baby trying to talk. It looked like they were about to regain some of their mind but after that nothing more happened. The healers are working with them every day, they say my parents are making progress but I can't see it."

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. I felt so sad for him. I couldn't imagine what it was like to live my life knowing my parents have a broken mind but I could imagine what it would feel like to be given hope only to have it smashed shortly after.

"Thanks Ginny." Neville whispered as he returned the hug.

"You're welcome, Neville." I said with a smile. "Maybe they will have success soon. You never know, we live in a world full of magic and miracles."

"Yeah, maybe." Neville nodded. He sat back in his chair, he didn't look like he had any hope.

"Don't give up hope, Neville. Not when there still is a chance."

"I won't, Ginny, I won't. It's just hard, coming here only to be confronted with no progress at all. Gran doesn't come here any more now, she can't. She has always been so strong but she is afraid that this will break her."

"So you always come here alone?"

"Yeah. The nurses are friendly and the Healers always take time to chat."

"but that doesn't change the fact that you are alone." I finished for him.

"Something like that. You have your brothers, you have Harry, even Luna has Charlie now to support her. I'm not jealous or anything but sometimes I just wish that I had a brother, or sister, or girlfriend to be there for me."

I almost cried when I heard him talk like that. Ever since we started in the D.A. Neville and I had been really close, we fought hard together when Harry had left the school. We bonded over things like that, he was in many ways a brother.

"Oh, Neville. You know you are a brother to me. Harry feels the same. If my mom got the chance she adopt you as her son. Next time just ask any of us along. Even Ron and Hermione will come with you. You just have to tell us what is going on. We'll support you."

"Really?"

"Of course, no doubt." I smiled confident at him.

"Thanks, Gin, that means a lot to me." Neville smiled. Suddenly he glanced at the clock on the wall in front of us. "I really have to hurry, I promise Gran to pick up some potions for her before dinner. I'll see you tonight, alright?"

"Yeah, you and your grandma! Both are welcome."

"We know, Gran is looking forward to it."

Neville got up and pulled on his muggle jacket.

"Oh, Neville. I really meant it, next time ask me, I'll come with you."

"Okay, I'll ask."

He waved goodbye and left through the window into muggle London. I wasn't alone for long. Not five minutes after Neville left a medi-witch called me from the door to the first aid unit.

"Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes." A bit surprised that she asked so formally.

"The healer asked me to get you."

I understood why she didn't recognized me, her accent told me she wasn't from the UK. It sounded more like an American accent.

"Is Peter alright?" I asked as I followed her.

"Yes, your boyfriend is going to be fine."

"Oh, Peter isn't my boyfriend. He is the colleague of my boyfriend."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Normally it's the girlfriend or wife that wait for news."

"No, my boyfriend is Peter's boss, I promised I'd stay with Peter until things were sorted out. Peter got injured during a mission."

"I understand. Well, Peter is going to be fine, the curse was indeed a blasting curse and besides some broken bones, a contusion and some cuts he'll be alright."

"Good, that will make Harry very happy."

I followed her to the end of the first aid unit. Mark, the healer I met before was still standing next to Peter. They were talking, so I waited until I approached them.

"Ah, Ginny Weasley. Welcome back." Mark said with a smile. "Come here. You'll be happy to see Peter awake again."

I walked towards them and looked at Peter. He sure did look a lot better.

"Hey!" Peter said happily.

"It's good to see you on good spirits again." I said with a smile.

"He'll be perfectly fine." Mark said. "He'll have to stay here for a night, just to let his bones heal properly but tomorrow he'll be as good as new."

"Thanks, sir. I'm very happy with that and Harry will be as well."

"It's my job, I'll leave you two to it. Peter will be moved later this afternoon to the ward on the first floor."

I nodded and the healer left for his other patients.

"Tell me, Ginny, was I hallucinating or was indeed Umbridge floating behind Harry, wrapped in ropes before you took me here?"

"Yes, that was indeed Umbridge. We got her."

"We got her." He breathed. A large smile lit up on his face. "Thank Merlin! Thank God! We got her!"

"Shhhh. You're disturbing the other patients." I laughed.

"Ginny, I can't tell you how happy I am that we got that bitch. She ruined a major part of my life. I can't even begin to explain the horror of that island she send us to." Peter shuddered as he remembered. "To see her punished would be the best day of my life."

"I think that would be for many people." I nodded. "I'm sure that with all the stories and evidence she'll end up in a far worse position as Azkaban."

"I hope so." Peter nodded.

"How are you feeling?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Good, a bit sore but nothing that won't heal. I'll be up and running soon. I just can't be at the meeting tonight."

"It doesn't matter, Harry will tell you what has been discussed."

"I hope you all come up with a good plan to stop Greyback. Now that Umbridge is caught he might be more rash in his attacks."

"Why do you think that?"

"I think that they are together, Umbridge and Greyback… I know she is known to be hating werewolves and all but hate and love are very close companions. If she is indeed Greyback's mate he'll be very possessive of her."

"He didn't fight for her this afternoon." I mused.

"Oh, did you see him?"

"Yeah, he came out of the forest, he seemed more interested in taunting me and insulting me than in Umbridge."

"Oh, perhaps I'm wrong."

The medi-witch came to bring Peter up to the ward. I followed along and stayed with him in the ward until Harry got there. It was an good hour later.

"How are you?" Harry asked worried.

"I'm alright. The healer says I'll be alright tomorrow. I have some bones to heal but I don't feel bad."

"Good, I was really worried when I saw you fly." Harry said.

"Yeah, I knew it was going to hurt."

Harry nodded, he looked thoughtful and maybe a bit worried.

"Say it, Harry. I know what you are thinking." Peter said with a sigh and Harry nodded.

"The leak or spy is a member of your team." Harry sighed.

"I know and I know who it is." Peter said sadly. "I send the message to one member because I didn't have more time. I asked her to contact the rest."

"Her?" Harry asked. Peter nodded.

"I thought her to be trust worthy."

"Who?" I asked.

"Eloise Parkinson." Peter said.

"Parkinson? Like in Pansy Parkinson?"

"Eloise is her cousin, she has always lived in Germany and spend her education at a small school there. We never had any reasons to suspect her of joining the Death Eater ranks." Harry explained.

"Parkinson isn't enough to make you at least suspicious?" I asked.

"I can't go denying people just by their name. We did a extensive back ground check on everybody, she was clean."

"I still can't believe she is the leak, though… she was always so intense about her work, so devoted." Peter said.

"We'll see to her tomorrow. I'll ask Kingsley if he can make sure she is brought in…"

"There is no need, Harry." A heavy voice came from the door. Kinglsey was standing in the opening, he looked grave, sad and slight sick.

"What happened?" I asked immediately.

"Eloise is dead, she was dead before you send her a message. It looks like she was attacked by a werewolf, she has human bite marks all over her body, pieces of her flesh ripped off. It was a bloody scene."

"Who found her?" Harry gasped.

"A muggle farmer. She was left behind in his field. It's a bit of a mayhem, the obliviators are running overtime to wipe the memory from all the police men."

"Oh god!" Peter muttered. "Dead?"

Kingsley nodded. We all blinked away a tear. Though I didn't know the woman, it was a blow to every witch and wizard.

"Ginny, will you please go to Grimmauld place, so you can receive our guests? We need to get a handle on things. The meeting has to go through but I'm going to help Kingsley first. We will be there for the meeting start."

"I will." I nodded. "I'll asked Kreacher to make something to eat to serve during the meeting, so you two can eat as well."

I kissed him goodbye and said goodbye to the others. They were already starting a discussion on who it could have been that attacked Eloise Parkinson.


	56. Happy Memories

**A long awaited step in Harry's life... Enjoy! (I am sorry it took so long)**

* * *

56. Happy Memories

Time flew by after that incident. After dealing with the aftermath of arresting Umbridge and losing a member of the Auror team Harry had a fight with George during the meeting we held later that night.

George accused Harry from lack of judgment for taking on a Parkinson in his team. Harry defended her and his choice. The brutal attack on her had made it clear that she was in no way the leak but George wouldn't believe him. It was a heavy shouting match until Kingsley pulled up some evidence pictures of her mangled body. They were horrific and George had to give in.

Though the leak in the Auror office caused many problems none were as big as the problem that had come from arresting Umbridge. As I had feared the werewolves weren't too happy about it and fought back. Cruelly.

Almost every day there was an attack on muggle children or on the wizarding community. It was so bad that St. Mungo's had opened a ward completely dedicated to the treatment and research of werewolf bites. People started to live in fear again. Because of these attacks we almost missed Christmas and the New Year's celebrations. We were just too busy.

As much as we all could the remnants of the D.A. and the Order helped Harry and his team to get a grip on the werewolves. They had great numbers and weren't easy to catch. Besides that we all had our jobs and lives to live. It wasn't an easy time.

Hermione and Ron returned from their Honeymoon a week after the New Year. They were so happy and glowing from it that Harry and I had a hard time filling them in on all that had happened during their absence. It was a rough pull into reality but both never showed any signs of distress. Hermione just sighed and shrug her shoulders.

"I never expected it to end with the death of Voldemort in the first place." She sighed and we all agreed with her statement. We hadn't expected it to be easy but we had hoped.

Shortly after that conversation Ron decided to join the Auror office and became an Auror in training. Harry needed as much trustworthy people as he could get. George was sad to see his brother leave the business but with Ange around he managed things easily and didn't really needed the help.

Hermione gave into Kingsley's wishes and joined the ministry. She became the law writer and researcher for the department for the regulation and control of Magical creatures. Kingsley couldn't be more happy, he had the golden trio working under his wings to make our world a better place.

Hermione really enjoyed her work. In close cooperation with Harry and the research team from St. Mungo's she set out to make life better for all the attack victims and werewolves who wanted to be a part of the wizarding community.

Even in the darkness of the attacks our life settled again in a steady but different rhythm. We worked hard according to the plan we had discussed during the meetings at Grimmauld place and though it was a slow process with each arrest or kill we could see our plan working.

Grimmauld Place started to become a meeting spot as Harry had hoped it would. Regularly we would go there and others would be there too, discussing how to go forwards. How to end it all. It was just that place where you could talk about everything. There were no secrets inside those walls.

As promised, Harry, had been home every evening, sometimes only for dinner but most nights he spend with me, trying to make up for his mistakes. He tried really hard and I had already forgiven him but I still couldn't help but being scared that he wouldn't come home.

It was the other way around as well. With all the attack, though most failed, our world was becoming dangerous again, just going to the training of the Harpies was dangerous. On multiple occasions myself and my team members had been attacked. Harry made sure that there was always some Auror present at the pitch but it still happened. It scared the shit out of Harry and every morning he struggled more and more with letting me go to my work.

Regularly it resulted into arguments and soaring tempers but the make up sex was always good. Besides we love each other deeply and only worried for the other's life.

It was clear that known friends of Harry were the main target of the attacks but it was a good thing, at least we knew how to defend ourselves. Luna was attacked one time when she was in London to buy some books. She was injured but the man that attacked her still couldn't remember his own name. Harry was proud.

The attacks increased as Kingsley pushed on with the trial of Umbridge, it was to start the Wednesday after Easter and a lot of work was going into the case. Arn worked long hours. He was not yet fit enough to join the battles, so he decided to battle the paper work. He hated it.

I can't say we were happy the first few months of the new year, too much happened to suppress the happiness but life wasn't bad.

Two weeks before Easter Harry came home early. Scaring the shit out of me. It wasn't even two in the afternoon. I had a day off from training as the match was coming up in two days. Gwen saw fit to have a relaxing day before an important match.

"Gin?"

"Harry?" I called when I heard him from the front door. "What are you doing home this early?" I asked worriedly as I opened the door to the hall.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" He asked. His eyes were bright with humor and happiness. I was so happy to see that fire in his eyes again. Lately his happiness and the burning look in his eyes had dulled a bit due to the terrible things that were happening.

"Of course but mainly it means trouble when you home this early."

Harry took two long steps towards me and pressed himself against me, trapping me between him and the wall. He softly kissed me.

"I wasn't even at work today, I took the day off. I have a surprise." He murmured against my skin.

I looked up at him, his face was more happy and mischievous. I was slightly shocked that he hadn't told me about his day off but I couldn't complain. I hadn't seen him like that ever since we planned the bachelor parties for Ron and Hermione.

"Should I be worried?" I asked.

"No, of course not. It will be a good surprise. Come on." He said with a chuckle as he pulled me out of the house. "Come on, I'll talk you along to keep it a surprise."

We reached the apparition spot and Harry pulled me into a hug. Without waiting for me to settle he spun around and apparated.

I opened my eyes when my feet hit the floor. We were in some sort of paddock. I could imagine somebody having horses or cows grazing here. It was surrounded by woods except for a small gate at the end of the fencing. I couldn't imagine where we were.

"Harry?" I asked.

"It's okay, come on I'll show you."

I walked a little behind him and looked around. The paddock was a beautiful place, it was quiet except for the songs of birds, wild flowers grew all over the place. It was clear that spring was settling in nicely.

Harry opened the gate for me and closed it behind me. I looked up the dirt road ahead. Between the trees I saw a house with a thatched roof on it. It seemed like we were walking into somebody's back garden.

"Harry?" I asked again.

"Look closely." He said as he nodded towards the house.

Now we were closer I could see around one side. I recognized the road and gasped.

"You have finished it!" I squealed.

"Yes. Ben finished everything to the smallest detail. That's why it took so much longer, he wanted to restore it all to it's grandeur that the Potter home had when my father was a young lad and we had to decorate it."

"Oh, Harry." I sighed and ran towards the house. I had seen it in different stages of repair but I hadn't been here for a long time, maybe five months or so. So I missed the rebuild and redecoration of it all.

I ran to the front of the house. The wooden door, the shutters, the curtains behind the windows, the garden around it, it was just perfect.

When Harry had spoken about the idea of renovating the house and living here I was very against it. I loved the Summer house and couldn't imagine living somewhere else. Now I was looking at my dream house. I could already imagine it decorated for Christmas, or kids running around the garden.

"Do you like it?" Harry asked.

"I love it." I whispered back.

"Come in and see what we have done with the inside."

He pulled me along and let me into the hallway. It was decorated lightly and it looked a lot bigger and more grand than it had done. Harry showed me around the downstairs area. He pointed out the areas that had been made bigger, the extra safe room behind the fire place. The living room was big but small cozy areas were created by groups of furniture. A soft thick rug lay in front of the small fire place. Also a muggle television was placed against the wall.

"Uhm, yeah. It was the one muggle thing I don't want to give up." Harry said as he ran his hand through his hair.

Next, he showed me the kitchen, it was just a perfect little kitchen with a large stove and a large fire place for the floo network. A large long table stood against the wall. We could eat here with at least eight people at the same time.

"Drooble will come with us here." Harry said. "Kreacher is too busy with running Grimmauld place, now that it has become a real meeting place."

"Drooble will love the garden." I nodded.

"Through that door are our offices, we both have our own place and it isn't yet decorated. I was sure you wanted to do that yourself."

I looked at the door and nodded. Right now I had no need for an office but I couldn't play Quidditch forever and might have need for on in the future.

"Come and see upstairs."

He took me first to the guest wing which held four bedrooms all with their own bathroom. All the rooms were simple and brightly decorated. They were perfect for guests.

Next Harry took me to the other side of the house. THE SIDE of the house. I was slightly nervous about how things have changed there. Would it be an constant remember of the horror or would it feel happy and bright again.

"This will be our bedroom." He said as he opened the door.

I walked in and looked around the most amazing room. It was like a hotel suite. A large Hogwarts style four poster bed stood against the back wall. It was draped in blue, pink and brown with golden curtains. It was like a fairytale. The walls were a soft white, with the exception of one that was decorated in a baroque blue and gold wallpaper.

"That is the door to the bathroom. Which I know you will approve off. It's a copy of the one at the Summer house."

"I really love this, Harry." I whispered. "I should be mad at you for not letting me decorate my own house but you made it so much better than I could have done."

"I'm happy you like it. I had a lot of help with it all."

"Who?"

"Fleur." Harry smiled. "She has great taste and have been working here for the last three weeks to create this surprise for you. I wanted to pay her for it but she said it was her way of paying back for all you have done for her."

I smiled at him and thought about how Fleur had been working here. She sure had done beautifully. I didn't want her to think she needed to repay me for anything, she was my sister and I did everything for her because I loved her but I realized it was the other way around as well. Fleur had poured a lot of love in it, it was clear in every detail.

"I should send her my thanks." I breathed.

Harry laughed and pulled me in a hug.

"You'll get a chance to thank her later, we have to stop by there to tell her all about it. She made me promise to come over for dinner today." Harry smiled before his face fell into something more serious. "Come with me, I'll show you the nursery."

"You've got the nursery decorated already?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah, it was one project I did do myself. It isn't a hint for you or anything, I just needed to make peace with that room."

I nodded slowly and followed him. I wondered if he was feeling as apprehensive about entering this room as me, the room… it was right across from the master bedroom. Harry smiled nervously at me as he grabbed the handle of the door. Slowly he opened it and stepped back.

I walked in slowly. I recognized the crib as the same one that had stood there before, now it was completely new. Even the colors on the wall were the same. I didn't understand why he would decorate it like it had been that horrid night. Why would he want to be remembered constantly about what had happened here. I turned around to look at him.

"Why?" was all I could ask.

"Because it's a part of me. I want our first child to sleep here, knowing that we would defend him or her just like my parents did for me, this was a room full of love not of death and horror." He answered slowly. I could tell he had thought these words over many times. I nodded and kissed him softly.

After a few seconds Harry pulled back and took a deep unsteady breath. Suddenly he looked nervous, he ran his hand through his hair again. I was about to ask him what was wrong but he place a finger on my lips, his eyes begging me to stay silent.

"For me this is the room in which my life, my freedom ended." He said slowly as he started to walk around the nursery. "The night my parents were taken from me it set my path out for a hard life. A path that would lead to danger, pain and death and for a long time I hated that path. It was controlled by others but never by me, it was controlled by destiny. Almost daily I missed the life I would have had if my parents had been alive. For years I resented my life as it had turned out."

"Oh, Harry." I sighed but he place his finger back on my lips.

"Your family gave me some sort of happiness. They showed me what a family was like and during the time I spend with you all I was happy but I knew what was to come, deep down I always knew. So I hated my life even more. Everything came down to that night here in this room. Hadn't he killed my parents thing would be different, hadn't he given my mom a change to step aside things would have been different." He sighed and looked around. "The year I left I slowly started to realize how much I had come to love you and how as dark and painful as it was I couldn't hate my life because if it. Had my life been different, with my parents in it I might never have a chance with you. Perhaps I would have been too cocky to realize how brilliant you are. Perhaps I would have had so many other options that I didn't realize what a beautiful woman you are. There was just no way I could be sure of it. That night during the battle, when I faced him in the forest I realized that though I miss my parents a lot I rather live this life with you than risking not having you if they had lived. It might be hard to say but it is the truth."

Tears flowed from my face as I listened to his loving words, they meant so much to me.

"So this room full of horrific memories and death is still a room full of love. The love from my mother for me lingers here but also the start of a path that led me to you, a hard path but one where I learned to really love, Ginny." He said as his eyes locked with mine. The emotion coming from them was slightly overwhelming. "Do you understand?"

I nodded and leaned forward to kiss him. He answered it with passion, every bit of emotion I had seen in his eyes was poured into this kiss. After a minute he pulled away and looked down at me with an even more nervous look.

"I want to make this room full of love again. Start new good and happy memories." He said. He stepped so that he could truly face me, his hands squeezed my shoulders and he gave me a nervous smile.

I gasped as Harry knelt down in front of me, I felt myself shudder with emotion.

"Ginny, please will you give me the chance to make this room, this house a place of love again. Will you please help me with it, by my side as my wife?"

He pulled a small box out if his pocket, with one hand he opened it and held up a beautiful small ring. A small emerald set in diamonds.

"Will you please marry me?" He whispered. I crumbled to my knees in front of him. The emotions became so heavy that I couldn't hold myself up any more. I wrapped my arms around him and placed my head on his shoulder. I needed the contact. Some how I remembered that I had to give him an answer. All I could do was nodded and smile through the happy tears. Still they were thick with emotion and love ran down my face.

"Yes." I whispered as I kissed his neck and took a deep breath. His scent was calming. "Yes, Harry I want to do that." I laughed.

He pulled me into a strong hug and held me close to him for a long time. We continuously were placing small kissed on every part of each other we could reach.

"Thank you." he whispered.

"I would have married you had you asked me the first day we met." I chuckled. I held out my hand and he slid the ring over my finger. It was a perfect fit and I realized Fleur had helped him with a lot more than just decorating the house.

We stayed on the floor for a while, just kissing and laughing happily. The room felt a lot brighter, Harry had succeeded making the room a happy place again. Never in my life would I forget this moment, they couldn't torture it out of me.

"Come, Ben is waiting on your verdict on the house and I'm sure Fleur is about to apparate here to see your answer for herself." Harry said as he pulled me up from the floor.

"When do we move in here?" I asked Harry as we walked back down the stairs.

"This weekend?" He asked me.

"Sounds perfect." I smiled.

"I'm happy to see that you have changed your mind about living here. I was afraid that I would have to beg you to move away from the Summer house."

I laughed and shrugged.

"It's only an apparition away." I said with a smile.

Outside in the garden Ben was waiting for us. He started to smile when he saw us coming from the house with a big smile.

"I hope everything is satisfying?" He asked when we reached him.

"It's beautiful. It isn't even the same house anymore." I said as looked back at the house. On the outside it resembled a small cottage, though from the inside a lot bigger, I loved the small and humble look of it.

"It has been a joy to work on." Ben nodded. "but I'm sad it's finished. It has been nice working so close to home."

"Do you have an other project yet?" Harry asked.

"Actually I have just gotten the requestr to re-do the Malfoy Manor. I was apprehensive first, afraid it was some sort of trap but young master Malfoy was very kind. He showed me around the property and told me how he want to change it. It's a big project and it will take at least a year to do it all."

"Really?" Harry asked. "I'm not surprised he wants to change it. Start over."

"No, me neither." Ben nodded. "That house is pouring darkness and horrors. He wants it grandeur restored but in a lighter way. He asked me to get rid of the darkness. Still he is a Malfoy and the Slytherin trait just come with the name so it would never be as bright and light as this house."

"That's a big task." I breathed. I could faintly imagine how dark that house would be. Especially after being Death Eater HQ for so long. Ben nodded, he looked excited about the new project.

"We should better get to Fleur." Harry murmured.

"Fleur isn't that impatient." I scoffed.

"You'll see. She'll be bouncing at the door."

"I'll leave you to. I hope to see you living here soon and stop by to have a chat." Ben said. He shook our hands and walked back to his house.

Harry and I looked at each other and walked back to the paddock behind the house.

"Does this comes with the house?" I asked him.

"And the forest around it." Harry nodded.

"Really? That's quite a lot of ground." I mused.

"It is." Harry nodded with a smile. "Though I'm sure once we have kids that they will find good use to it."

I laughed and agreed with him. I could imagine it, kids running around, perhaps owning a little horse and a dog.

"Come on, let's get to Fleur before she is going to kill me." Harry said as he pulled me towards him. I noticed his twist and relaxed in time so that his surprise apparition didn't cause me to get splinched.

Once the smell of the salty sea hit my nose I turned to glare at Harry.

"A little warning would have been nice." I growled but I didn't get an apology because behind us Fleur came running towards us, squealing loudly.

"Ginny! You said 'yes'! Did you?" She squealed as she pulled me in a hug.

"Of course." I breathed.

"Oh I'm so happy! Arry was very nervous… How did you like the house? How did he propose?" Fleur rattled on.

"Fleur. Easy!" Harry yelped as he was pulled in a bone crushing hug by Fleur.

"Arry! How did it go? Did she love the house? Oh, what about the ring?" Fleur continued without taking a breath.

"Fleur, love, they might want to breath before answering." Bill said with a chuckle. My brother was just behind her with my niece in his arms. It was quite the lovely image.

"Oh yes." Fleur said with a blush. "Come on in. Dinner is almost ready."

She led us back to the house. Her arm hooked in mine. I suspected that she would start her onslaught of questions as soon as we were in the house. Harry and Bill walked in front of us. They were talking about the latest werewolf attack on a group of kids in London but I didn't want to listen, for once I wanted a happy day to stay happy.

"Did you like the house?" Fleur asked as soon as she handed me a cup of tea. Harry and Bill were upstairs putting Victoire to bed while I stayed with Fleur in the kitchen as she finished dinner.

"So much." I sighed. "Did you really decorated it all?"

"Yes, Harry asked me during Ron and Ermione's wedding if I could give him some tips. I ended up doing everything." Fleur sighed. "It was a really nice change from dealing with the Goblins."

"It is beautiful. Everything was done to the detail."

"I'm glad you like it. It's difficult to decorate to somebody else's taste." Fleur said seriously as she opened the oven and pulled out a delicious smelling roast.

"I really loved the bedroom, it was like a fairy tale."

"Harry told me about the vacation and that day at the beach, how you loved all the pillows and all. I have been in Tunisia with my parents once, I used that Arabic style they had in the hotel and Harry's story as an inspiration." Fleur explained. "Now tell me about the proposal!" She suddenly demanded as she pointed her wand at the knife that was cutting the roast.

"Yeah, I want to hear about that as well." Bill said as he and Harry came down the steps.

"Well… I said yes." I said happily and held up my hand. The ring glistened in the sun light that was coming through the window.

"Yes, I got that." Bill said with a mock smile. He sat down next to Harry at the kitchen table and offered him a glass of fire-whiskey.

"but how was it?" Fleur pressed as she placed all the food on the table.

"Very emotional, Fleur, very emotional." Harry answered.

"How did you ask it? From what I remember you had something bigger in mind."

"Really?" I gasped. "What?"

Harry rolled his eyes at Bill and sighed.

"Sorry." Bill muttered without looking really sorry.

"What did you plan, Arry?" Fleur asked my question. I was interested what plan he had. He had waited for so long to ask me and he always said he had some special plan in mind. Apparently he did something different than his original plan, I wanted to know why he had changed it.

"It was nothing really, just a crazy idea I had."

"Please tell us?" Fleur asked. He looked at me and I nodded for him to tell.

"Alright, I had this crazy idea in my head that I would ask Ginny to marry me very public, the moment she would win the Quidditch league cup. I had hoped that it would be this year but I was never sure."

"Why so public, you hate attention?" Fleur asked.

"I do, I really, really do so but I thought that it would be most easiest and the most special. It would be really special for Ginny and it would end every rumor or discussion." Harry explained.

The others nodded and Fleur ordered us to fill our plates and eat. Under the table I grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it softly.

"I'm kind of happy you didn't do it like that." I told him. "I prefer the private version. I don't think I would have liked the double attention that much and it would have taken the attention from the team when they would have deserved it."

"Yeah, that's what I said but he wouldn't listen." Bill said.

"How come you know about his original plan?" Fleur asked.

"I told him and Ron shortly after Ron proposed to Hermione. They asked me when I would pop the question and I told them about my ideas. They didn't like it much either."

"So why the change? You were quite stubborn about it." Bill asked.

Harry shifted a bit, like he felt uncomfortable talking about it. He glanced a few times at me and swallowed his glass of Fire-Whiskey away.

"I just didn't want to start off in the Godric's Hollow house like how we are now. I like where we are now, don't get me wrong but I wanted it to be a complete new chapter in our life. The first part of 'us' was rough with the war and all. Then we started living together and it all very wonderful, I really love it all but for the last year or so we have been surviving, working so hard and trying to establish something that would bring us happiness and me making all these mistakes in our relationship. I guess most of all I wanted Ginny to know that through all my mistakes and all the promises I keep breaking I love her and that promise will never change. Besides the house really needed some happy memories."

"That I understand." Bill nodded. He pulled the bottle of Fire-whiskey out again and poured us all a healthy shot. "So, a toast, to the engagement! To being happy and new happy memories."

"To happy memories." We all followed.

Dinner was really good. Though I had never suspected it from Fleur, she was really a good cook. For Bill she had left the roast a bit red in the middle but for us she had the outer areas and those were perfect. We chatted a little bit about the proposal and about the cottage. Mainly Fleur wanted me to promise her a thousand times that I really liked it.

After dinner Bill invited us for an other drink in the living room.

"So, did you do it properly?" Bill asked as he looked quite dangerous at Harry.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you ask my dad first?"

"Yeah, I did. A long time ago. I think it was a month after the war."

"You asked for my hand?" I stammered.

"Yeah. You know me, I always do things right, even if it costs me my own life." Harry said. I shook my head. How on earth did I end up with such an old fashioned man.

"And than, did you go on one knee?" Fleur asked.

"Of course. I wouldn't know any other way to do it." Harry laughed.

"And now?" Bill asked seriously. "What are you going to do now?"

"Planning a wedding of course." I said a bit oblivious to why he would ask something like that.

"Yes, that too but I meant with the press and with telling everybody. Mom and the others won't be happy to hear something like that through Lee."

"Ah, that." Harry sighed. "I think we'll invite everybody to the cottage next weekend after Ginny's match and tell them all there, like having a house warming party with a surprise. Lee will be invited as well and will have a new item on his next show."

I looked at him and thought it over. People would expect a house warming party anyway and we had tell the family first before the news got out. Harry was right why not doing it as soon as possible and be done with it. I really wasn't in the mood for an other fight with mom over the engagement announcement. Though I had hoped on a quiet first weekend.

"I think it's a good idea." Fleur commented. "That way nobody feels left out or insulted." It was like she knew where my mind had gone too.

"Yeah, okay but I want to tell Ron and Hermione first." I said. "They are our best friends, they should be told first."

"Than we'll stop by them tomorrow. Perhaps we will see them at Grimmauld place. Tomorrow afternoon." Harry said.

"That sounds perfect." I nodded.

For the rest of the evening Fleur wanted to discus the house with me, the details she put in, the things she hadn't done and handed me a list of things that I should do myself.

Harry and Bill talked about werewolves, not very surprising as people started to fear Bill because of his incident with Greyback. Many suspected him to be a part of the attacks, mainly because he had been on the scene many times but only we knew for whom he was fighting.

Bill helped Harry a lot just by giving him information about how it is to be infected but not cursed. Apparently there was much more too it than just preferring red meat.

The evening was really nice, just simple family time. Tomorrow we would start a new chapter in our life as an engaged couple.


	57. The Announcement

I'm sorry it's been taking me so long to update. I have an infection in my arm and have limited computer time at the moment. I'm trying to write as much as I can but right now it isn't much.

Next month I'll be away for a long vacation, I'm taking my notepad with me so I can write there... I hope I can update shortly after that...Don't worry I WILL not abadon this story!

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**57. The announcement**

The chatter grew silent slowly. From the back corner of the room Harry called the attention of all our guests to him.

He was about to tell them what we had told Ron and Hermione a week ago.

The day after Harry asked me to marry him we went to London to tell Ron and Hermione the news. Harry and Ron had met up that morning to scout the grounds around Hogwarts. Rumors were that Greyback was hiding there, ready to attack the Hogwarts students on their Hogsmeade weekend. Nothing special happened and Harry got the chance to ask Ron and Hermione over at Grimmauld place for a dinner and some discussing that evening.

I was bouncing from excitement when Kreacher and I prepared for Ron and Hermione's arrival. I couldn't stop looking at my ring. The more I looked at it the more beautiful it got. I cursed myself quite a few times for turning into such a puddle of goo.

Hermione and Ron had been really happy for us. Hermione just dived into all the things that we needed to plan. She got all chatty about the dress and she got downright annoying when she started on the cake. Ron on the other hand was already asking Harry who would be he's best man and about a Stag-party. They just assumed that we would get married this year.

Though both Harry and I weren't in a hurry. We would pick a date when it came. We had talked a bit about it the night before after we had left Bill and Fleur. We had discussed normal things, like if we want to wedding quickly and such but both Harry and I agreed that we would enjoy this time and take things slowly.

Also we had both difficulties with the idea of Greyback still being out there ready to attack. I couldn't really see us getting married and having a party when he was constant in the back of our minds. I knew I'd rather wait until this whole episode with Greyback and Umbridge was over and done with.

We had planned on telling everybody the next weekend. We were already making plans to do it together with a house warming party. I had already discussed the food and drinks with Drooble and the decoration with Kreacher. The little guy loves decorating things. An attack by Greyback and his companions delayed our plans massively.

It was horrific. It was the start of the sale week at Diagon Alley. Sales weeks in Diagon Alley are big. There isn't a witch or wizard in the United Kingdom that doesn't get excited about sales week. Four times a year the collections that were old go for massive discounts. You can buy real bargains during this week and it is always busy. The street are full of families with young children.

George's shop had a special discount week as well and it was abnormally busy. Even Ron and Hermione had jumped in to help George and Angelina out.

That day I it was the day after a match and had a day off from practice. I had been reading in the kitchen while Drooble cooked when suddenly George's head appeared in the fire place. He was in total panic.

"Harry!" he had yelled.

"Harry isn't home yet, George." I answered when I looked up from my book.

"Gin! Help us!"

"What wrong?" I asked as I really saw his face, it was covered in blood. My heart rate rocketed sky high.

"Greyback, shop, kids." Was all he said before disappearing. I grabbed my wand and tapped my bracelet, alerting everybody. I knew that Harry would be there within a few seconds so without hesitation I ran to the fire place and took the floo to the shop. It was a stupid rash thing to do but it was the quickest way of getting there. I was lucky that they hadn't reached the apartment above the shop yet.

Downstairs it was mayhem, aurors were popping in, Neville arrived at the same time as me and werewolves covered in black cloaks were shooting curses in every direction. I couldn't see George but I was sure he was somewhere down the steps.

I couldn't look for them long as a young man covered in black and blood stepped in my eyes sight and shot a curse at me. Thanks to my now well trained Quidditch reflexes I was in time to block it from hitting me square in the chest but it left a cut on my arm. Swearing and cursing like a sailor I shot a curse back but he was a better fighter than I expected. The duel took a lot out of me. Luckily I won and the young guy smashed into the wall as my blasting curse hit him.

I took two steps down the stairs when I came eye to eye with Greyback.

"Welcome back, delicious." He growled. The hairs on my arms went straight up. He was disgusting as his eyes very visibly roamed my curves. I felt almost violated by them.

I didn't hesitate and shot a stunning spell towards him but he blocked.

"Now, now, darling, lets keep it friendly. I had been hoping to see you here." He sneered. "I still wonder if a female Weasley tastes as good as the male. A young woman like you should taste even better."

Again I shot a curse at him, he was getting on my nerves and I felt like I was going to be sick by the way he talked to me. I missed him by an inch and he managed to hit my leg with a curse that resulted in an other cut. Disgustingly Greyback shivered in pleasure as he smelled my blood.

"Delicious!" He whispered. "What I would do to you."

"Fuck!" I swore and aimed an other curse at him.

"Yes, that too, little Ginny Weasley." He said with a smile. "That too, until you can't walk no more for a month."

"You are disgusting." I growled.

"Am I?" He sneered and stepped closer to me, I took a step backwards up the steps. "You can't run forever, I'll find you one day."

My stomach turned at his implications and I nearly vomited. If it hadn't been a fight for life or death I would have but I remained focused and shot an other curse at him. This time if wasn't a stunner or a disarming charm but a lethal curse. "Sectum Sempra!" I muttered. He deflected it but it hit his shoulder creating two deep cuts in his arm.

"Bitch!" He growled.

"Never!" I said as I aimed for him again.

"I'll get you for this!" He said with a steel voice. "And when I do I have my way with you!"

He took a few steps forward but was blocked by a curse that was shot at him by one of the Aurors. He stopped and turned around, disappearing into the mayhem of the shop.

I was left shaking and feeling violated.

It took us, including the aurors, at least an other thirty minutes to stop the attack. When the calm and quiet returned it became clear that many people were injured. With most of them it was difficult to see if the wounds were caused by bites, curses or something else. It was a nightmare, so many little children had been injured.

I had only sustained the two deep cuts, the one in my arm and the one in my leg . It was nothing a good healing spell couldn't manage and I took care of those before I went searching for my friends and family. I had seen a lot of red headed people during the battle and I remembered seeing Harry's raven hair.

After weaving through crying kids, panicking parents and stressing healers I was able to find Harry, Neville was treating him with a potion.

"Got hit by a strange curse." Harry had managed to explain before collapsing. I wanted to take him straight to St. Mungo's but George grabbed my arm. His eyes were wild with panic and he begged me to help him find Angelina. Neville promised me to take care of Harry and with a heavy heart I left my fiancé with one of my best friends and help my brother to find his girl.

After a long and desperate search we found Angelina in the back room, covered by a load of boxes. It looked like she was blasted into them. She was unconscious and bleeding like crazy. George was besides himself. He kept muttering about losing her and how it would be his fault. It nearly made me slap him in the face.

It took me a lot of yelling and growling to get him to focus but when George finally calmed down a bit we took her to St. Mungo's. When we arrived healers took Angelina and George away quickly and I went to look for Neville and Harry.

I was really worried about Harry, he had looked so bad and wanted to check up on him quickly. To my relieve he turned out to be fine. When I found him he was already more worried about the blood on my arm and leg than about himself.

Angelina was a different story.

For two days she battled unconsciously for her life. It had been a good thing that she hadn't been bitten by the werewolves but she lost a lot of blood and the curse that had hit her prevented her body from adequate healing.

With the fear of losing her, vigil night watches and the fear of George going insane, Harry and I had decided to wait with the house-warming party and spreading the news. Angelina's fight for her life was more important.

While Ange fought for her life, Harry searched the world for Greyback, he was more determined than ever to find him and finish him. I hadn't told him about my encounter with the werewolf, I still felt violated and dirty but Harry didn't need my issues as well, he had enough with him own problems.

Yet, again his work was all for nothing. It was the one thing about wizards that I hated, they could stay hidden forever… until they made a mistake and Harry was hunting for that mistake.

Three days later Angelina finally pulled through and woke up her normal happy self. She couldn't even remember the attack. Only when George pointed out her massive wounds she realized how close it had been.

With the help of the healers Angelina recovered quickly and a week later she was released from St. Mungo's with the order of taking things slow for at least an other week. With the good news Harry and I had decided it was time to throw the party.

Though I was training hard towards the end of the season and Harry worked long days to bring justice to the werewolves, we had both taken two days off to move our belongings to Godric's Hollow and make the house really our own. We placed pictures and painting on the walls. Drooble brought some flowers over from the Summer House and cleaned away the last of the dust.

We planned a nice party and shopped for the first time together in a muggle shop that was just down the road. Harry send out invitations and made sure that they could only be read by those we asked. Kingsley wanted to have us take safety measures but Harry refused. He was totally fed up with Dark Wizards controlling our lives. He argued that there would be enough people there who knew how to fight.

Harry drew me out of my thoughts as he called for attention once more. He grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him.

The whole room was silent. Many faces were watching us, on many you could see the result of a good party with enough wine.

"I want to thank you all for coming today." Harry started. "I know after what happened last week nobody felt like partying but we can't let them get to us. We can't let them control our lives, the Death Eaters have done that for too long. It's time we start to control our own lives."

Everybody cheered in agreement.

"Now we have an announcement to make!" Harry called over the crowd.

Immediately everybody started their curious chatter.

"Please, I'll only tell this once!" Harry called out but nobody reacted. I smile and pulled my wand from my holster. "Silencio." I whispered and everybody fell silent at once.

"That's better." I whispered to Harry. He couldn't help but chuckle but our guests looked quite shocked.

"Alright, now I have your attention, finally!" Harry sighed dramatically. "Ginny and I like to tell you all something." Harry smiled down at me and ran his thumb over my ring. I shivered as I saw his emerald eyes gleaming with pride and love. "A bit more than a week ago Ginny and I got engaged."

I lifted the spell and the noise of chatter and applauding rolled over us like a wave. Not a second later people rushed towards us. Everybody seemed to want to hug us and ask questions.

"When will the wedding be?" Angelina asked.

"We don't know yet, we haven't set a date. We have decided first to enjoy this part of our relationship." I told her.

We were kept busy by the younger people, all excited about a new wedding and all the fun. I noticed my mom was hovering around us. I saw Harry's wry smile when he noticed her too. We both knew she was waiting to pull us aside and plan the wedding. It would be a big blow to her when we tell her about our plans.

Harry and I had discussed her reaction to it all. We both knew mom would want to plan just like she had done for Bill and Ron. We also knew that us living together unwed was still a sore issue for her, she always made small side comments about it whenever we went to the Burrow. We never cared much about it but now it would become an issue once again.

"How did Harry ask?" Lee wanted to know as he reached me.

"On one knee." I told him with a laugh.

"Oh, come on Ginny! You've got to give me more than that!"

"I'll give you what I want!" I laughed but complied by telling him most of the story. I kept out the emotional parts. Many people around me listen to my story with dreamy smiles. Urgh, I hated the girl thing with weddings. They all get so dreamy and on a pink cloud.

I had wondered why I wasn't like that. I mean, I absolutely want to get married, I want to be Harry's wife forever but I wasn't looking forward to the wedding itself. I couldn't imagine myself in a wedding dress, nor could I see myself as the Belle of the ball thing. It just wasn't me.

While we talked Drooble went around with snacks and drinks while everybody chatted. Both Harry and I were kept busy by people congratulating us and asking silly questions. Only Arn and Kingsley had serious questions.

"How will you arrange safety measures?" Kingsley asked Harry and me. We both had realized that safety would be an issue but we hadn't really talked about the wedding so the safety precautions weren't discussed either.

"We don't know yet." Harry said. "It's not like we will get married next week. We have time to figure it out."

"I was kind of hoping we'll solve the problems before we get married." I sighed.

"That maybe, if we are lucky. Yet, there will always be concerns for the safety of the you of two and your family and friends." Arn said. "You two are just to publicly opposed to Dark Wizards and with Harry's job, he, his friends and his family will always be a target."

"I know but like I said we have time to figure things out." Harry sighed. I could see he was getting tired, dark circles rimmed his eyes. He had been working long hours for nothing. He hadn't been home much and when he was at home he slept most of the time. Yet, it would be long before we both would be able to kick everyone out and sleep many hours.

It was well after midnight when most people left. So far Harry and I had been able to dodge my mom's inquiries but our luck didn't last. Harry and I both know we had to face her at some point. As we waved goodbye to Luna, Charlie, Bill and Fleur, mom sneaked up behind us.

"Ginny!" She squealed. "I have been trying to get to you the whole evening. Congratulations dear." She said happily. "It's took you both long enough."

"Mom!" I snapped. "We did it in our own time. We weren't ready for it before."

"Oh hush, you two have been living together for so long now, it was about time you two stopped humiliating us with that strange arrangement." She said like she talked about the weather. Harry squeezed my hand, he knew I was getting ready to kick her out. "Now, I'll arrange the tent and make a cake. You'll have to tell me if you want a theme wedding like Ron and Hermione had so I can start ordering stuff. When is the date? I hope it's not in the winter, though it was a lovely wedding, Ron's wedding was a pain to arrange."

"Mom!" I screamed. "Stop it!"

"What?" she asked. Her hands on her hips and looking quite cross. I took a deep breath to calm down. I didn't want to get in an other argument with her again. I kept reminding myself that she didn't know better. It was the age difference. My mantra for whenever she and I didn't agree.

"Mom, we don't even have a date set and I'm not sure where or how we want a wedding."

"Well, make up your mind dear." She pressed.

"Mom! We are not going to decide today when or where or how we are going to have this wedding." I sighed.

"Why not? If you want to get married this year we'll have to start planning soon. It will be a lot to arrange."

"Maybe we don't want to get married this year!" I almost screamed again. "We want to enjoy our engagement first. And if possible catch that damn werewolf before I set a foot down any aisle."

Mom looked like somebody slapped her in the face.

"You want to wait with the wedding?" She asked.

"All Ginny is trying to say is that we want to take things slowly. We haven't even talked about a date yet. Let us enjoy this period in our lives first." Harry stepped in before I could hit her. He wrapped his arms around me, I knew it would look like a loving hug to many but I knew he was restraining me. He was afraid of the damage I could do to our relationship with my mom and with good reason, my blood was already boiling.

"You!" my mom growled. She pointed to Harry. She was getting angry with him again. I closed my eyes and sighed. It was never her fault, it was never her who was being cross, nor the children she raised but always somebody else. My mom opened her mouth but Harry held up his hand and glared at her.

"Think about what happened the last time you said something to me in anger before you speak." He said calmly.

Mom turned red and sputtered before turning around.

"Arthur! I'm going home, it's late." She shouted and walked past us out of the house without looking back. Dad appeared around the corner from the living room. He took one look at us and knew what had happened. He sighed and walked over to us.

"I'll talk to her tomorrow." He sighed. "Don't worry about her, she has been like this all week. The attack on George and Angelina set her on edge."

"I know dad. Contact me when you talked to her." I sighed and gave him a hug.

Neville, Ron and Hermione left as last. They had all heard the argument and agreed with us. We spend an other hours chatting about normal things. Work, love-life, gossip about other classmates and all sorts.

It was three am when Harry and I crashed on top of the blankets.

"Urgh, I'm even too tired to crawl under the blankets." I groaned.

"Me too." Harry sighed.

I was already falling asleep when I felt my clothes disappear and the blanket cover me. Somewhere far away I realized that Harry was working his magic but I was already to far away to even acknowledge it.


	58. Danger

**I'm updating again! I'm sorry it took so long, I have been on a long holiday, one I really needed. Besides that I'm looking for an other job and a new house... so real life is a bit chaotic...**

**This chapter is really short but I wanted to give you all something...I hope you all enjoy it...**

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58. Scared.

I'm not the one to be easily scared, I'm a Gryffindor through and through. Brace at heart. Next to that I grew up with Fred and George, I learned quickly not to get spooked. It takes a lot to scare me.

Yet, now, I sat at the breakfast table, my hands shaking slightly, crumbling the letter I held in my hand. My breathing was shallow and I heard my heart pound in my head. My stomach contracted and I almost vomited.

From the kitchen counter Drooble was looking at me with concern.

"Are you alright, Miss Ginny?" He asked.

I could only nod.

I glanced down at the letter again. Even the handwriting disgusted me. It was the fifth I got over the last month. I still didn't know how it was possible that they got through the ministry security but they did. I had burned them all.

I hadn't told Harry about these letters, not yet. He had enough on his plate already. The trails against Umbridge were finishing and he was in the ministry almost every day. He didn't need my worries. Besides at first I wasn't scared, the first three letters weren't that bad. Just threatening but now they had become sickening.

I started to think that I should let Harry know about them but that idea frightened me as well. He would be very angry. At me for not telling him sooner and burning the letters. At that damn werewolf that was haunting me and at the world for not letting us live in peace.

He would also lock me up out of fear something would happen to me. He would get me a full escort all day. I wouldn't like to loose my freedom like that but maybe it's necessary. For a while.

I thought about what to do. I really didn't want Harry to completely freak out. Ron and Hermione would side with him as well. Actually everybody would agree with him. I groaned as I lay my head on the table. What to do?

I don't know how long I was lost in my thoughts, the content of the letter, the horror, the fear, the disgust and the things I needed to do in the future but suddenly I heard the front door opening.

I jumped up and pulled my wand in one movement. Still shaken to the bone it was a natural reaction.

"Ginny!" Somebody called. I recognized the voice.

"Harry?"

The kitchen door opened and the raven hair and emerald eyes I loved appeared. He was looking at me in confusion. I stood ready to curse him into the next century.

"What is going on?" He asked.

Suddenly it all became too much and I broke down. The walls I had created to keep my fear in check around others, especially Harry, crumbled down and the flood gates opened.

"Ginny!" Harry yelled in shock. He raced towards me and reached me just before my knees hit the floor. "What's wrong?" He asked but I couldn't talk. Sobs raked through my body making speaking impossible.

He sat down on the chair I had been sitting in just before and pulled me onto his lap. For a long time he just held me. Softly brushing his fingers through my hair hoping I would calm down. I knew he had many questions and that he was impatient for the reason why I was so distressed but he didn't say it nor did he press for an answer.

After a while the tears creased and the sobbing stopped. It was soothing to be able to cry your fear away. Every now and then a girl just needed to cry.

"What's wrong, love?" He asked once I looked up at him. His wizarding robes were soaked through with my tears. "Tell me." He whispered. I wasn't sure how to answer or what to say at all. In the corner of my eye I saw the letter laying on the floor.

"Promise me not to freak out?" I whispered.

"I'm not sure if I can… you know how I am." He said with a worried look. I knew he was speaking the truth, he would freak out anyway, promised or not. I reached over and grabbed the letter from the floor.

"This is the fifth one, the first three weren't bad but the last two…" a shiver ran down my spine as I thought of them. I quickly handed the letter to him and pressed my forehead in his shoulder. I didn't want to see his reaction.

I knew what he was reading, I read it just once but I knew it by heart.

_Dear future-misses-Potter,_

_I must say I'm insulted that you didn't reply to my letters, I'm very sure that you received them. Also I'm hurt that you didn't except my invitation I send you in my last letter._

_I would very much like to spend time with you again, the last time wasn't completely satisfying and I just love a feisty young red head. _

_I can't wait to feel you fighting me when I'm hovering over you, taking you like a dog. I can't wait to hear the sound of your screams in pain as I have my way with you. I wonder if you scream as hard as the girl that is tided to my bed right now. I had to do with her because you didn't show up._

_I'm going to get you soon anyway, I can be patient. And when I do I hope Mr. Potter will look for you. I hope he shows up to see what I am going to do with you and after I'm done with you, you can watch how he slowly and painfully dies. _

_Sadly I won't grant you that. You'll be mine forever._

_Love, Greyback_

I heard him swallow a few times and his breathing got more rapid. Once I heard him curse under his breath. He was getting angry and upset. I pressed my face even deeper in his shoulder. Trying to hide from his reaction. I was sure an explosion coming soon.

"When did this arrive?" Harry whispered. I could hear how he was fighting to keep his voice calm, how he was fighting to stay calm.

"twenty minutes ago." I whispered into his shirt.

"How?"

"By owl." I said, I leaned back a bit to look at his face. As expected he was livid. His eyes closed and his lips thin and pale with anger. "It was a black small owl. I have never seen that breed before."

"four more?"

"Yes, I burned them."

"Why in Merlin's name would you burn them!" Harry said, his voice now loud and full of anger.

"I couldn't bare looking at them." I sobbed.

"Why didn't you gave them to me?" he yelled. I closed my eyes, trying to hide from his anger.

"You had worries enough already." I murmured.

It was the fact I was sitting on his lap that he couldn't get up and pace angrily around. He shifted multiple times to calm down before he spoke.

"Gin!" it was more a groan than a word. "You know…. You know… that it wouldn't matter how busy I am. You go first!"

"I know." I whispered. "it's just I wasn't scared at first. Really the first three weren't bad…"

"THEY WERE GREYBACK'S!" Harry yelled, "of course they were bad!"

I jumped up from his lap as I felt him leap up. I was just in time to regain my balance.

"What happened the last time?" Harry suddenly asked. He stared at me with a mixture of fear and anger in his eyes. I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came. I tried a few times more but I couldn't. "Dammit Ginny!" he roared, "Tell me! What happened!"

"At the shop…" I whispered. My knees had gotten too weak and I sank to the ground. I wasn't able to fight it anymore. "he was taunting me." I shuddered as I remembered the short words Greyback had with me. Even more I remembered the look in his eyes. It made me sick.

"Taunting with what?" Harry prompted.

"Harry,… I…" I muttered. I wasn't sure if I could really tell him.

With a short step he was in front of me, kneeling down and grabbing me by the shoulder.

"Tell me, Ginny! I need to know!" He hissed.

I glanced up at him, meeting his emerald burning eyes. His eyes locked with mine, suddenly I felt everything shift around me. Suddenly I was reliving that battle, I heard Greyback's words echoing in my mind. I tried to fight it, pushing the thoughts away but instead of shaking it off it went even further, the memory of our meeting when Umbridge got arrested appeared. Greyback's words nearly made me vomit.

"No!" I heard somebody gasp. "No!"

Suddenly I was back in the kitchen with Harry's hand still on my shoulders. He had his eyes closed.

"Fuck, Gin." He whispered. "Why hadn't you told me."

"I… I don't know." I said. Suddenly my mind caught up with what happened. "Jeez Harry, did you just use Legimency on me!"

"What?" He gasped. "No! Not intentionally."

"But you just saw my memories! Mine!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't do it on purpose. I just wished you would tell me!" He argued. "Besides let's discus that later, now why haven't you told me!"

"I don't know, Harry!" I yelled at him even though he was just a foot away. "I didn't want to bother you with it. I wouldn't have done it. I'm a big girl I can deal with these things myself. Fuck, Harry, maybe I would have told you if I knew you wouldn't freak out like this. They are just letters. The next time I see that dog I'll hex him into the next century!"

It was all foolishness but I felt a surge of that stupid Gryffindor pride running through my veins. It told me that I was a big girl and didn't need somebody to defend me. This was the attitude that got many Gryffindor into trouble.

Harry just looked at me like I was an idiot, which I was of course but it didn't matter to me at that time. I was angry, at him for attacking me like that, at Greyback for making my life so difficult and at the world for not seeming to want peace. I was just so upset with everything. The air around seems to tingle with it.

"Ginny…" He groaned. He sat down across the table with his head shaking. "I don't want you in that situation. I don't want you to take those risks. You should have told me, I would have taken precautions."

"Like what, like locking me up here." I snapped.

"I don't know, anything to keep you from that monster." He snapped back.

"You can't lock me up Harry. I need to train and play me games, I have a life to live as well. You can't take that from me." I growled.

"But I can't let him get to you!" He yelled.

A silence fell over us, we both had said what we wanted to and the impasse lingered. It was just something we both knew we wouldn't agree up on.

Across the table Harry was shaking slightly, I felt it vibrating through the table. I'm sure I wasn't sitting silently as well. Our eyes held each other trapped, conveying unspoken words of anger, fear and determination.

After a while the anger left Harry's face and I sighed. I knew the battle was over.

"He won't get to us Harry." I whispered. "We are too strong together for that."

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to completely calm himself down.

"I wish I could lock you up, or keep you with me the whole day." He spoke softly.

I raised my eyebrow in a challenge.

"I know, I know but you can't blame me for wanting you safe." He groaned.

"No I can't." I whispered after a while. "What are we going to do about this? Because honestly that fucked up puppy is scaring the shit out of me."

Harry looked up and got up from the table, he held his hand out to me and when I took it he pulled me up into a hug.

"I know, I saw." He whispered.

I knew he was referring to the memories he had just seen. It was like what happened in the caves during the holiday. I had no control over what happened back then, I considered that Harry hadn't now either.

"Harry, what are we going to do?" I murmured against his chest.

"Let's get to Grimmauld place, everybody will be there, let's discus this and see if the other know how to deal with this."

"I don't want to be locked up Harry, I don't want a guard around me constantly. I want to live in freedom even though that fucker has it out for me."

"I know, Ginny but your safety comes first, just like mine, Ron's or Hermione's. It's give and take."

"Promise me you won't insist on keeping me in the house." I pressed.

"Ginny… if that's…"

"No, Harry. I'll go insane being locked up here, even if I still were able to go to training and matches."

Harry groaned but gave in. Still he insisted on taking the floo to Grimmauld place instead of apparating like normal. I knew he was feeling edgy so I let him.

When we arrived in London he turned to me and looked quite serious.

"Can I keep the letter?" he asked.

"Why?"

"We might be able to figure out how it has gotten through security scans and maybe even get a clear magical signature from Greyback."

"Oh, alright. Just don't let the others read it." I muttered. Somehow I felt ashamed of the letter. Like what it said somehow marked me as dirty.

"Ginny, love. It's important to be open about this, they all need to know what you are facing. It helps us prepare."

"I just… I… Urgh, it makes me feel marked or something like that."

"Nobody will see it like that. You know that right. No matter what they all care almost as much about you as I."

I sighed and let my head fall onto his shoulder. I hated this, I hated to be the weak one, the one that needed protection. Harry wrapped his arms around me and hugged me close.

"We will end this quickly. Greyback picked the wrong one if he thinks he can play with you." At the end Harry's voice was growling. He was angry, really angry. When he let go of me the battle worn strong and ready Harry stood before me. He exuded power and strength and maybe a bit of danger. Like he had done during the final battle, the duel between him and Riddle. Fuck he was sexy when he looked like that.

Though I was sure sex wasn't on his mind, he meant business. He took my hand without a word and lead me to the living room. People were already there and a glance on my watch told me it was already past our standard meeting time.

Harry threw the door open with a loud and angry bang that made everybody inside jump up. Everybody was already there, even my father and mother had decided to come. McGonagall was sitting at the head of the table and a few of the remaining Order members.

I glanced up at Harry and by his surprised but satisfied look I took it that this wasn't planned but a welcome surprised.

"Harry!" Hermione yelped. She was shaken by the noise the door left. When she saw Harry's face her anger with him left her face and she looked worried. "Harry, is something wrong?" she asked a bit more quiet.

"Are Kingsley and Arn coming?" He asked McGonagall.

"I don't think so." She said cautiously.

Harry nodded and walked toward the fire place in the corner. I sat down next to Hermione with a sigh. Harry was all business now. There was no use to talk to him or try to reason with him when he was like that.

Everybody looked at me for an explanation but I shook my head. Harry would want to do this and I wasn't sure if I was up for retelling everything again. I was still quite shaken with the words in that last letter.

"Harry, what is going on?" Neville asked when Harry was done calling for Kingsley and Arn.

"Let's wait a second for Arn and Kingsley, that way I have to tell it one time." Harry said as he sat at the head of the table. "Minerva to what do we owe the pleasure to have you here?" he asked the professor kindly.

"Maybe the same piece of vermin that brought you in such an uproar. Greyback and his puppies are making life at my school a hell and I was hoping we could discus further actions here tonight. Neville told me you were all meeting up here."

Harry nodded and paused, "We shall wait for Kingsley and Arn then."

We didn't need to wait very long. Kingsley and Arn came rushing in after just a minute or so.

"Harry, what's all this about?" Kingsley as soon as he saw there was a full meeting.

"We need some serious discussion, Kingsley. We thought the both of you should be present for that." Harry told him calmly. Still his eyes were burning with anger.

Once everybody was seated and Kreacher had poured everybody a healthy dose of Odgen's finest all eyes turned to Harry. His eyes met mine for a second and I nodded. There was no way this could be avoided. They needed to know.

"Ginny received a letter today." Harry started. "A letter from Greyback."

Everybody fell completely silent.

"I would like you all to read this and keep the room in one piece once you have finished it."

Harry handed to letter to Hermione. She scanned it quickly and turned pale white and her eyes locked with mine. The absolute disgust and horror I had felt when I read the letter was clear in her eyes.

Ron took the letter from a shaking Hermione. His reaction was as I could have predicted it. Violent and with a long stream of profanities that made my mom glare at him. Though Bill and Charlie followed along the same lines. Luna, Arn and Kingsley looked rather thoughtful after reading it. George had to leave the room in order for him not to break anything. Angelina reacted like me and vomited. Mom and dad were both to shocked to say anything and Neville looked actually more angry than Harry. The older Order members were shocked but it was clear that they were a bit more used to this.

Once George returned Kingsley spoke up.

"This isn't the first letter. Do you have the other ones?"

"I burned them." I said softly.

"And what did they contain?"

"Much of the same. The first two weren't that bad, a bit of taunting to see if we would take the bait but the last one before this was just as bad as this one." I whispered. It was just loud enough for the other to hear.

"What happened before the letters?" Hestia Jones spoke up. The small woman was a good and powerful witch and Harry liked her a lot. I was a bit surprised that she would ask it, how could she know if something happened before that. She picked up on my surprise and smiled. "Death Eaters won't do things like this without a good reason. He must be sure that this will get to you, that you will take it all very personally. So my guess is that there must be some sort of history here."

I was taken aback by her logic but I guess that was to be expected from somebody who had lived through two wars. I didn't know how to answer, it was difficult to find a good explanation without going too deep into the details.

"There…" I started slowly. Trying to think of the right words. "Greyback and I have dueled a few times… he's always taunted me… I never took the bait… but his words were quite obvious in line with what he writes. Apparently he had a thing for red heads." I finished with a glance at Bill. He looked so angry. Like steam was coming from his ears.. "It's disgusting actually."

Silence fell again. Everybody was in deep thought. Hermione asked to read the letter again, after that she performed some complicated magic on it but she didn't say anything. She looked rather frustrated that what ever she was doing wasn't working.

"I can't trace it, Harry." Hermione whispered. "What ever I do it doesn't show a magical signature. It's hand written by a muggle."

"The handwriting was too neat to be from him, I would be surprised if he could write at all." I commented.

Harry nodded before looking at McGonagall.

"Minerva, maybe you could tell us about how Greyback is causing issues with your students."

"Well… many parents are indicating that they are going to home-school my students next year. The last two Hogsmeade weekends have been disrupted by the werewolves, children have been attacked and some have been injured. If that wasn't enough, Greyback is threatening pure blood families that he will hurt their children is they went to such a mudblood loving school… I quote."

McGonagall looked distressed and sighed.

"I know he is out there, every Hogsmeade weekend, with his pack and a few rogue Death Eaters, scaring the living daylights out of the students. Kids reporting seeing them but when we get there they are gone."

"We have a team of aurors there twenty-four hours a day." Arn pointed out.

"They are doing nothing. They aren't even close by when the kids see the werewolves." McGonagall snapped.

Harry looked up at Arn and raised his eye-brow.

"The leak?" Harry asked. "Is the traitor in that team?"

"Impossible. I scanned them all. Nobody had any connections to Greyback or the Death Eaters." Kingsley said.

Silence fell again. There was something but I couldn't put my finger on it. Something we were missing. I forgot about my issues as I thought about the attacks on the children. That was much more worrisome than my issues with the dog.

"Umbridge." Neville suddenly murmured. "Did you check all there connections with Umbridge?"

"No, why?" Arn asked.

"She had Death Eater connections." Hermione said off handedly. "She claimed to be related to the Selwyn family."

"Besides that she has proved to be connected to Greyback and thoroughly evil." Neville said. "Somebody could be introduced through her to Greyback, or imperiused by her to be a leak."

Arn and Kingsley looked at each other. We all could see they looked shocked.

"No, we haven't thought about it that way." Kingsley said slowly.

"But if anyone really had connection to Selwyn we would have known that." Arn argued.

"I honestly don't think Umbridge has any connection to the Selwyn family, she was just pretending." Hermione bristled. "She thought it made her look more important to the Death Eaters."

"We will have to look into it." Arn said. "Harry, in the mean time I want you and your team at Hogsmeade."

"What about Ginny, we can't leave her unprotected if Greyback is after her personally."

"Harry, I don't want a full guard." I said again.

"Ginny it's going to be too dangerous." Harry argued.

I sighed and shook my head. I wasn't going to give in this time.

" Harry…" Kingsley said calmly. " We can set a watch on Ginny, one of Peter's team or maybe two. Ginny won't even notice them and they only follow her when she is traveling."

"I don't know, what if that bastard slips by. I really want to be with her now."

"Harry, I'm not defenseless. He hasn't got through me before, I'm not going to let him get me now." I argued.

"Peter will arrange a full time watch for her." Arn said. By the sounds of his voice there was no further argument about that. "Harry I want you on Hogsmeade. Your team is the best trained in taking out Dark wizards. That's what we have been training your elite team for. You know no personal thing can come between that."

"Besides if he is constantly around Hogsmeade you have more chance to get him can going on some wild hunt." McGonagall reasoned with him.

I wasn't happy about this guard but at least I wasn't going to be locked up all day. The other listened to the plans that were laid out. Everybody with in the Order and the D.A. were handed tasks, everybody but me. Somehow it irked me that now they found me incapable of fighting when normally I was one of the best duelists.

Halfway through the meeting I had enough. I got up and just left the room. Behind me I heard a silence filled the room and I felt eyes on me. I paid them no attention. I was fuming with anger.

The nerve they had for leaving me out of everything. I saved Hermione's ass multiple times, not to mention Angelina's. During our years with the Carrows I was the one that protected the D.A.'s sorry asses and now! Now they just shove me aside like a useless toy.

The more I thought the angrier I became. I felt abandoned by my friends, almost betrayed. Without further thought I took the floo back home. Or rather to the Summer house. I would always go there when I needed to blow off so steam. The large gardens lend themselves perfectly for flying and my old broomstick was still there.

Everything was dark in the house when I stepped out of the crates. Drooble stayed most of his time in Godric's Hollow now. He only came here once or twice a week to maintain the gardens and clean the house.

I lit up a few lamps and headed to the storage room by the decked terrace. Outside it was cold… too cold. I shivered as I walked towards the storage room to get my broom. The chills became even worse.

I stopped dead in my tracks. These weren't normal chills.

"Lumos" I whispered and held up my wand. Around the perimeter I saw ghostly figures moving. _Dementors_! I turned around to race back inside when I saw somebody at the apparition spot. A wizard, he was performing spells. The Dementors didn't seem to affect him.

I took two steps closer to see who it was. When one of the wizard's spells lit up the area I saw it. I'd recognized that face everywhere. Hell, the memory of that face brought the smell of dry blood and dirt back to the forefront of my mind.

_Greyback_!

My whole body tensed for battle. I suddenly noticed more wizards. I finally realized that they were trying to breakdown the wards.

The cold became more chilling and I realized that they were succeeding. With one more magical blow the last ward around the house fell and I was standing between them and the house.

I jumped to the side hiding in Drooble's beloved rosebushes. I managed to send Harry a message with the bracelet just when the werewolves and Death Eaters rushed by. I raised my wand to defend myself. I knew I would be found soon. The wolves had great sense of smell, they would catch my scent and if they wouldn't find me the Dementors would.

All I could do was fight and hope that Harry would show up in time.


	59. Screams

**Another short chapter update... it will be in two parts first from Ginny's POV and later from Harry's POV. I hope you all like it... it didn't turn out as scary and horrific as I had hoped but I couldn't do it any different.**

Please review...

_**WARNING: in reaction to the first reviewer... this chapter hints to rape... no graphic scenes or anything will be written... stay with me till the next chapter to find out what really happened...**_

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59. Screams.

I hid under the rose bushes as the werewolves and Death Eaters ran past me. For a split second I wondered how they had broken through the wards. They were old wards. I wasn't sure if there had been any blood wards around the house but I was pretty damn sure that there were some of the strongest and oldest wards around this place. Not the ones that werewolves would be capable to break down.

My question was quickly answered when I saw one of Bill's bosses walked past me. I remembered Bill introducing him to me at his wedding. If my memory is correct he is one of the most skilled ward breakers in the world. He trained Bill.

As the man stumbled past me I saw the glassy grayish gloss over his eyes. He was under the imperious curse. Damn werewolves!

The cold was getting harder to ignore and I started to feel more and more depressed. The dementors were getting closer and I knew I couldn't hide much longer from them. Soon I needed to cast my patronus but it would give away my location. Something I'd rather avoided until Harry showed up.

I saw Greyback walk by me. He was about fifteen feet away from me. I readied myself for a battle. I knew with every fiber in my body that he was there for me and that he would find me at some point. There was no way I would get out of this without a fight. This fight I seriously feared to loose.

Greyback's eyes were darting around like he was searching for something. I wondered if he knew I was there but how could he. I only made the decision to come here not ten minutes ago. He had no way of knowing for sure that I would be there. Yet, it looked like he was searching for something.

Suddenly he snapped his head up in my direction and the smirk started to form on his face. I realized I was sitting in the wrong spot, the wind was taking my scent directly to him. Now he knew I was there.

I crawled backwards to the other side of the bushes as he took a step in my direction. Hiding was useless right now, I needed to get away from these bushes and make sure I had space so I could defend myself.

From inside the house I heard screaming and shouting, indicating the others had arrived and the fight was going on. The screaming was horrifying. Somebody was being tortured. I seriously hoped the one who did that met his match.

Across the lawn I saw one of the dark cloaked wizards run away. I realized that some of them were already fleeing from the house. _Cowards!_ It made my blood boil and without really thinking about it I shot a stunner towards the coward. Hitting him square in the back.

After the flash of light from my wand I realized that I had given away my position. To make the best of it I stepped back into the shadows, trying to hide a bit as I heard Greyback entering the secluded part of the garden I was hiding in.

I tried to listen for more footsteps. Checking to see if he was alone or not but with the noise coming from the house I couldn't. I just hoped he would want me alone and to himself.

My body started to shake with fear and adrenaline. My wand raised I tracked his movement. Ready to shoot at any time. As he came into view I realized he was alone. Or at least nobody was following him.

"Kitten?" He growled. He was looking around. I didn't hesitate and shot a curse at him. No need for kindness or fairness. Harry had told me never to wait until the other shot the first curse. Always take the advantage immediately. Greyback blocked my curse easily and moved towards me.

"Now, now Kitten, that's not polite. Though I like the fight in you, makes me enjoy your body much more when it fights."

"I'd think not." I seethed and shot a second curse towards him. The werewolf blocked it again and growled. It wasn't an angry growl but more something that he thought was sexy… still it made me sick.

"Oh, I think you know as well as I do that it's going to happen anyway." He growled. "Your pathetic excuse of an fiancé isn't going to stop me. He met some of my friends by the sound of it."

He walked even closer and closer to me. I shot a stunner at him but he blocked it again. I slowly stepped to the side, mimicking his steps towards me so that I kept a distance between us.

From inside the house more screams erupted. It sounded female. I felt a flutter of panic run through me as I wondered whom it was.

Greyback saw my panic and smirked.

"Ah, the sounds of a screaming woman… I can't wait to hear yours."

I was just in time to dodge when he send a curse my way.

"Don't play too long, Kitten. I want you to be able to struggle when you body is trapped under mine."

I straightened up and shot a few curses towards the werewolf. He just blocked them. As the screaming from the house increased, the panic became almost too much for me. I couldn't really think straight. All I thought that it was my fault my friends and family were hurt. I shouldn't have been here.

I was so distracted by the sound that I was to late to block the curse Greyback shot my way. It hit me in the shoulder. A minor cutting curse but blood started to spill immediately.

"Fuck!" I hissed as I quickly dodge a second curse.

"Oh, I will, Kitten. I will." He sneered.

The dueled started to intensify quickly. He smelled blood, literally and it had a weird effect on him. He got if possible even more aggressive. I had to work at top speed to block or dodge curses. I didn't even have a chance to shoot curses at him. For a while I just prayed that the other would find us soon.

After more than fifteen minutes I started to loose hope that the other would safe me. The sounds from the house didn't die out. Only the screams got less. I started to realize that I was on my own and had to do this by myself. But how?

"Give it up, woman." He growled.

"Not likely, dog!" I growled back. His salvo of curses stopped for a second and gave me the chance to do something back. Faster than ever before I shot curses towards him. Not even thinking about them, I just wanted to hurt him. One of my curses broke through his shield and hit his leg. It was a bone-breaking curse. I could literally hear the sickening sound of his bone snap. He let out a howl of pain before anger completely took him and it was my time to defend again.

After another ten minutes later the others still weren't here. I was getting exhausted and slow. Too slow. I fail to jump to the side as a yet of light hit me.

I forgot everything, I couldn't think anymore, all I knew was the intense pain that was wreaking through my body. Every nerve was on fire. Every muscle contracting with force. My brain felt like it was boiling and I couldn't stop the screaming coming from me.

I don't know how long I was screaming, it felt like forever. Al I wanted was to die and make the pain stop. After what felt like ten years in hell the pain suddenly stopped. My body went limp, I couldn't move. My muscles refusing to work.

"Now Kitten, are you going to give in?"

Al the sudden I remembered where I was and what was happening. It didn't matter I couldn't answer, my brain just couldn't figure out how to make me speak.

Something blunt hit in my side and I was rolled roughly onto my back. I screamed. It hurt like hell.

"Look at me, kitten." He growled, his voice sounded close by. "I want you to see what I do to that lithe body of yours." I refused to look, hoping that this was all a bad dream. A punch in my face, confirm it was not. "Look at me!" he demanded. When I didn't he hit me again. The pain was too much and I opened my eyes.

"Good." He hissed. "Now let's see what got Potter's juices going."

I shivered involuntary. I felt his dirty hand run up my leg onto my thigh. I felt sick. Even more so when he reached the apex of my leg. I felt his fingers brush over my sacred place.

I wanted to kick him, hit him but the torture had immobilized me. My muscles refused to obey.

His hand slid up further, taking my shirt with it. Exposing my stomach and a few seconds later my bra. He shuddered.

"Oh, Kitten, you are going to feel so good. I wonder how tight you are."

I don't know where it came from, maybe a boost of adrenaline but suddenly my legs moved and I kicked him straight in the nuts. He jumped back and howled in pain.

"Harry!" I screamed. Hoping somebody would hear me.

Pain hit me again. I heard the werewolf scream at me. Calling me all sorts of names. Pain ran through my body like fire and I knew that being raped would be the least of my problems now. He was angry.

As the pain of the torture curse stopped Greyback kicked me a few times. Before kneeling down next to me.

"I hope this teaches you a few things, bitch."

I couldn't do anything but cry and pray for somebody to save me.

HPOV.

I felt the ring burning hot. I noticed the others did too. For a second I thought the thing wasn't working correctly. Everybody who owned a D.A. item was here.

"Ginny." I heard Hermione whisper and saw she was looking at her bracelet. I glanced at my hand and read the message.

_Greyback is breaking into the Summer house_.

"That can't be." I murmured. Very complex wards guarded the house. No werewolf could break into that one. I glanced around, the others looked worried.

"Where is Ginny?" George asked.

I got up and walked out of the room to look for her. She was upset when she left, I had seen it in her face but I hadn't expected her to leave Grimmauld place. She was probably in the kitchen fuming in anger.

Three minutes later I was forced to conclude that Ginny wasn't at Grimmauld place. I started to panic. Was she at the Summer House? Would she still be there? I hoped she was smart enough to leave but what of she couldn't. to many questions popped up in my head.

"Fuck." I muttered and ran back to the meeting. I threw the doors open and breathed in.

"She isn't here. We need to get to the Summer House."

Nobody moved.

"Come on! She might be in danger." I shouted.

"Harry…" Hermione started. "What if it's a trap?"

"How the fuck can it be a trap!" I roared. "She sends us a message!"

"Yeah, but what if somebody else send it?" Hermione replied calmly.

"Dammit Hermione! Nobody else can send messages with the jewelry! That's how the Goblins made them!" I growled. "Now come on."

"Harry what if Greyback is there and he is forcing her to send the message." Arn said.

"All the more reason to hurry!" I turned around to walk to the fireplace. I heard nobody follow.

"Harry, mate…" Ron tried.

"What the fuck is wrong with you all!" I roared. "I'm going, I don't care if non of you come with me or not."

I stalked off to the kitchen. Grabbed a hand of floo-powder and stepped into the crate. As I started to spin off I prayed that the house wasn't over run by wolves and Death Eaters.

I landed with a soft sound in the kitchen of the Summer house.

I waited in the crate for a second. Sounds coming from other parts of the house confirmed that there were more people than just Ginny inside. I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath. I was going to finish this once and for all.

Anger surged through my body, I felt it humming in my muscles and my finger tips were tingling with magic. I had felt the same surge of magic when I saw Voldemort taunting Neville. Like a magical adrenaline rush it made me feel powerful, stronger and it heightened my senses.

Slowly I made my way to the kitchen door, I heard footsteps on the other side. Sidestepping the table I found myself quivering with anticipation. Oh how I hoped Greyback would be at the other side of the door.

The fire crate turned green again. To my surprise it was Arn who stepped out first. He saw me and nodded. He took the other side of the room. Wands drawn and pointing to the door. The fire crate lit up a couple of more times. Knowing it would be the Order and the DA I didn't pay much attention to them. Arn was growling out orders to the rest and I knew Hermione, Ron, Neville and George would follow my lead.

Suddenly the door flew open and revealed a Death Eater, cloaked and masked. Behind him, the menacing smiles of a few younger werewolves but no Greyback.

_Had he gotten to Ginny already_?

Fear and panic took hold and I started firing curses towards the intruders. Once my first curse was fired all hell broke loose. A fight for life or death erupted around me and all I could think about was to get to Ginny. I didn't wait for my first curse to hit, I just continuously shot curses and they weren't kind ones. They could give information without an arm or leg.

That was until I reached the living room and heard somebody scream behind me. I turned around as fast as I could to see who was hit. Writhing in pain on the ground behind me was Angelina. Screaming loudly. I glanced around to see another junior Death Eater standing in the corner.

"That curse was meant for you, Potter!" He sneered.

My reactive curse hit him the shoulder but he didn't stop his attack on Ange. He just shivered and growled a bit. Apparently he was used to pain. I realized that this man would probably end up dead. He didn't even defend himself. I knew that killing would be something that came with the job but it didn't make it any easier. I hated killing another human. I'm no Death Eater, I do not enjoy killing.

I knew it had to be done. The insane menacing smile on his face as Ange screamed told me he was a lost case.

As the junior Death Eater focused on the screaming girl I shot a cutting curse at him, aiming for his throat. It worked better than I expected. Like I had seen in muggle action movies the skin on his throat ripped open and blood and air flowed out.

Angelina immediately stopped screaming but remained on the floor. Shivering in pain.

George was already there to check up on her. Back in the kitchen more people were screaming but I didn't recognized any voices.

I made my way down to the front door without much difficulty. There were more enemies around than I thought. It seemed like a massive attack. Up the stairs I heard more people trashing the place. I couldn't care less as long as I would find Ginny before it was too late.

I wondered where she was. I guessed outside but there were too many people running through the house to be sure. They could have captured her and hold her in one of the bedrooms.

Hermione, Ron and Bill caught up with me at the door quickly.

"We need to find Ginny!" I yelled. From the living room more screaming erupted but this time I didn't recognized the voice.

"How?" Hermione panted.

"You two comb the house. Take as many free members of the DA or Order with you. It's no time for games just eliminate every dark wizard or werewolf you see. If you find Ginny send a patronus to me." I said to Ron and Hermione. "Bill, we sweep the garden clean."

They all nodded and we rushed off. Outside it was quieter. Many werewolves but no Death Eaters.

Working together Bill and I eliminated two more werewolves before a large group met us at the end of the rose garden. Like they stood guard over something. From the large amount of research I had done on Greyback's pack I knew this were his most highly trained werewolves. All wizards and skilled with curses.

"Ah Potter!" Somebody sneered. I recognized the man, he was one of Greyback's closest companions. One of his few confidants.

"Dante!" I spat. He was one of those responsible for the attack on Arn almost a year ago. He was ruthless and I had seen with my own eyes what damage he could do.

"Nice to see you again." The wolf sneer.

"Can't say the same." I said as I shot a stunner towards them. They blocked it easily.

"Harry!" I heard a piercing scream. It froze my insides and stopped me dead in my cursing. Bill froze as well.

"Ginny." He breathed. Even over the distance from where her voice came I recognized the absolute fear in in. Something was terribly wrong.

I was ready to vomit but the wolves in front of me chuckled.

"The boss has her, Potter. He wants her and when he is done with her, we get to ride her. Oh she will be tight…" Dante taunted me.

Red, everything was red. Ginny's scream echoed in my ears as I felt a growl building up in my chest. I tried to take deep breaths and think but I couldn't.

My wand arm was quivering but unthinkingly I started to shoot off curses. They were much more brutal and deathly than I had ever used before. Next to me I noticed Bill was doing the same. The werewolves replied with the same force but with our onslaught of curses they were mostly shielding.

In the back of my mind it worried me that I heard Ginny's scream only once. I had expected her to scream, kick and fight. What was Greyback doing to her? She surely had more fight in her than one scream.

Bill was much more creative in his dueling than I. I noticed all the different colored curses he shot. They confused the werewolves and left them a bit unfocused. I took advantage of that and shot two of my most powerful blasting curses towards them. Both hit their mark and send half the group flying. With just three left Bill and I didn't wait for them to return to the fighting, we both shot three curses. They made all three men scream in pain.

"Come on!" I hissed. I ran towards the area where we heard Ginny's voice came from. I had know idea where in the maze of rose bushes I had to look. So I raced through the garden peaking in each secluded area I passed. I was sure they weren't that far away.

I rounded a corner to the seating area Drooble had created for when the roses were in bloom and skidded to a halt. What I saw there was so terrifying, sickening and disgusting that my brain froze for a second.

Ginny was laying on her back completely naked. The dirty scum was running his hands over her breast, gripping them roughly. Somewhere in the back of my head I was relieved that he was still wearing clothes but I didn't recognize that relieve.

" NO!" I screamed.

Ginny's head whipped around towards me, I noticed the bruises and cuts but even more the dead look in her eyes. They terrified me. I feared I was already too late.

I never noticed Bill next to me but we both shot a curse at the same time, screaming the incantations from the top of our lungs. The werewolf didn't even react. He didn't notice us. With great satisfaction I saw the curses hit him. One in the head and one in the side. He was lifted of the ground and blasted backwards into the thorns of the roses.

Ginny didn't move. She just lay there. Her eyes still dead and her body shaking. I never remembered how but I suddenly found myself kneeling next to her, picking her up but she screamed in pain.

"Ginny?" I asked as I froze.

"It hurts." She moaned.

I steeled myself against any emotion and glanced down her body. She was covered in bruised and cuts were bleeding all over her body. Her legs were still shaking and spasms run trough her muscles. I easily recognized the symptoms.

"She has been tortured." Bill breathed.

"Yeah." I nodded. It was hard to think straight. My anger with the damn werewolf was surfacing fast. The only thing that kept me from torturing the bloody fucking dog to death was Ginny. She needed me now. She was more important.

"We have to move her. We need to get her to St. Mungo's." Bill whispered. I nodded but wondered how. She was in too much pain to be moved. I glanced back at the house. It was eerily silent. I wondered if it was safe to run in, grab the potion and some clothing and back out but I couldn't leave Ginny. Suddenly an idea came to me.

"Drooble!"

" Yes, master Harry." The elf said as he appeared. I saw he looked at Ginny in utter shock. "What happened to mistress Ginny?" He wailed.

"Drooble, there has been a fight here. The wards failed some how. Ginny was tortured. I need you to get the strongest pain relieve potion you have for her, a cloak and some clothes for her."

The elf nodded and disappeared only to return not even ten seconds later with all that I asked for.

"Here master Harry." The elf whispered. If I wasn't in a state of shock myself I would have been able to at least comfort the elf a bit but my brain wasn't there. It was completely focused on Ginny. I didn't even hear Arn and Hermione arriving. I never noticed them.

I covered Ginny's body with the thick cloak to shield her from prying eyes.

She whimpered in pain as the fabric touched her skin.

"It hurts." She moaned.

"I know, Gin, I know. Here drink this, it will help." I whispered softly to her as I held her head up so she could swallow the potion. I was happy that she at least tried to drink it all. I was afraid that she couldn't.

As soon as the vial was empty Ginny slumped into a unconscious state.

"Harry, take her to the hospital. I take care of the mess here and Bill will inform the others. I'll see you in an hour at St. Mungo's." Arn whispered to me.

"Thanks."

I lifted my girl up slowly to prevent further damage. She whimpered softly but stayed silent.

I looked around me to see Angelina being held up by George, she looked so bad and bruised as well. Hermione and Rob were standing next to them, both slightly shaken but in good condition.

"Where are Luna and Charlie?" I asked as I noticed them missing. Ron looked down at his feet and Hermione whimpered slightly. Only George looked up, I noticed a tear streaming down his face. "Are they okay?"

"We don't know yet." Arn spoke. "Luna was hit by a curse. A curse that was meant for Charlie. She stepped in front of it. We don't know if she'll make it or not."

"Dammit, Luna!" I growled. "That girl!" I was seriously angry with her. I thought she had learned her lesson when she took a curse for Ginny but no! She had to do it all over again. Stupid woman.

"Harry, you have to leave. Take Ginny to the hospital quickly. Charlie is there already."

I nodded and apparated away.


	60. The start of a long road

**AN: **I feel the need to state this after the last chapter. I was shocked by the violent reactions I got. it was the first time for me in this story to get reaction like that and I would have hoped that my readers would be more trusting of me to make these desicions.

Now I would like to state that I'm no JK Rowling and don't write like she does. That's what fanfic is, our twist to a story we love. The forceful comments of readers is one of the main reasons why I don't publish any of my other stories before they are finished. I don't want haters and flamers to influence my story lines.

With this story as with all stories, exciting things need to happen to keep a story interesting (this can be horrific things, funny things, action packed things etc..) No live is with out it...I had 3 possibilities for this, 1st, a major character death, 2nd something really dramatic happening to Hermione (I have this chapter finished and might use it in the future) and last the option I chose, something happening to Ginny. I choose the last one because Ginny is the strongest of them all mentally and will be able to recover from this... besides that it will bring everybody closer together and set off a bit of peace...

Now some reviewers stated the difficulty about showing how to deal with a sexual assault and the aftermath. I hope I have done this beginning some justice.

* * *

**60. The start of a long road**

I paced angrily across the hallway. Charlie was sitting on the bench at the end, his head in his hands. We were waiting for news. From the healer that took care of Luna we had heard that she still wasn't in the clear. It was agonizing to see Charlie so upset but I couldn't feel his pain for Luna, I was waiting on news from Ginny.

From the female healer that was looking after Ginny, I hadn't heard anything yet. When I told her that I feared Ginny might be sexually abused, I just couldn't say the word 'raped', she kicked me out of the room. She said it was a very private issue and that no man would allowed in till she thought Ginny was ready for that.

So here I was pacing down the halls of St. Mungo's. Thinking back about the fight and the state we found Ginny in. I wasn't even sure we had been in time to save her from the worst. I thought I did but hell… how sick was Greyback. I wouldn't even dare to imagine what he could have done to her even with his clothes still on.

Deep down I was happy the others weren't there yet. I feared Molly's reaction to the news of what happened to her daughter. I feared Arthur's reaction even more. I know that would it have been my daughter I might have just gone to the ministry and tortured Greyback to death myself. I could do it now, so much was my blood still boiling. I just hoped that now with Greyback caught it was all over and that Ginny would recover.

"Mr. Potter!" Somebody called behind me. I turned around to see Maggie, the healer, waiting in the door opening to Ginny's room. "I would like to have a word in private before I let you see Miss Weasley."

"Of course." I nodded and followed her into her office.

"Please sit."

I did as asked and looked at the older lady. She was well in her sixties, maybe even a bit older but she looked as fit as possible. Her eyes told about her wisdom and patience.

"I am happy to inform you that you were in time. Miss Weasley doesn't show any signs of being raped or at least being penetrated. She herself confirms that she was able to fight of her attacker long enough for you to save her from that. Yet, I can't of course tell where her attacker's hands have been."

I slumped down with a sigh of relieve.

"However, I must stress that she has been sexually assaulted. Though to many people this seems less worse. It is just as bad as being raped and leave the same scars. Only the physical damage is less. She is emotionally confused, drained and wrecked by her ordeal. It will take a long time to heal these scars."

"I understand." I nodded.

"I want her to get some counseling to deal with this. She will receive that while she stays here."

"Won't it be better to just erase this all from her mind?" I asked as the thought popped up in my head.

"Sadly not. The damage done by a sexual attack is not only in her mind and on her body. It will also linger in the unconscious part of her mind. Her body will react to it. So when we erase her ordeal and you'll try to touch her in a sexual way her body will react to it just like it would have done with the memory intact. It will only confuse her more. As hard as it will be, it will be better for her to learn to deal with and overcome what she has been through. It will be a long and painful road but I believe she will come out stronger in the end."

I nodded and I thought over her words. Even in a magical world there would be no short cuts. No easy solutions.

"How long will she have to stay here?"

"Besides the sexual assault she shows signs of long duration torture and physical abuse. She will need regular checks, bed rest and potions for her body to fully recover from this. If she doesn't there might be a chance that her muscles will never recover and she won't be able to play Quidditch anymore."

I nodded. It was all I could do. I started to feel tears forming in my eyes. I would kill Greyback myself if he took away that from Ginny as well. It was the one job that really made her happy.

It hurt to know that the girl I love was going through this and even worse that wasn't a single thing I could do about it. There was nothing I could do to take away her pain.

"Are…?" I started. "Are there… any… damages done that won't heal?"

"It's too early to say that. She is in good care here and I'll do anything possible to make sure she walks out of here completely healed but her muscles took a heavy beating from the torture. Besides that she will have some scars but they might heal over time."

I nodded and fell silent. After a few minutes I felt the ache. I just had to see her.

"Can I see her?"

"Yes. She is asking for you. I want you to remember to be careful and take things slowly. She might not accept a male very well right now. Or at least anything that might be viewed as sexual."

"I understand. I really just want to see her."

The healer nodded and stood up to show me the way. When we reached the room I heard the other Weasley's arriving down the hall. The were so loud. I could hear Molly demanding to see her daughter. I glanced up worryingly.

"It's okay. Miss Weasley asked to only see you. She isn't ready to face her family yet. I'll tell them what happened and why they aren't allowed in yet."

"Thank you." I said grateful.

I slowly entered the room. It was completely silent just for the ragged breathing that came from the bed. Ginny was sitting up right against the pillow, her eyes wide with fear but I was happy to notice that there was life in them again. I recognized the fear and anger burning. It was more than I had seen in the garden.

"Hey, love." I whispered.

Suddenly she broke down. She gasped for air and started to sob uncontrollably. I rushed forwards to hold her but she flinched away. It hurt a lot to have her flinch away from me but I took her in my arms anyway. Maybe a rash action that the healer would not approve off but I couldn't stop myself. I just wanted to hold her and let her all cry it all out of her system. No matter how long it would take.

She completely stiffened when I wrapped my arms around her but I held on. She had to realize that she had nothing to fear from me. I softly ran my fingers through her hair and whispered to her.

"Shhhh… it will be alright…. You'll get through this…I love you,… we'll get through this… He won't hurt you anymore…" I repeated those words constantly. Continuously stroking her hair and rocking her. I didn't dare to move to fast. I was afraid I would hurt her but slowly I rocked her.

After a long time she started to relax. She finally excepted my embrace and slumped against my chest. I let out a sigh of relieve knowing that this part of the battle was won. At least she trusted me enough to except me holding her. Still the tears continued to flow.

I wanted to talk to her, comfort her but I didn't know what to say. I realized there were no words for this.

It was after a long time when Ginny stopped crying. I slowly placed a kiss on her forehead. I was happy that she didn't flinch away from that.

"Oh, Harry." She whispered. Her voice broken and hoarse from the crying and screaming.

"Shhh. You don't have to say anything." I whispered.

"I feel so dirty." She whimpered. I wasn't sure how to react to that. To a certain extend I could understand why she felt like that but there was no way I could relate to that feel and it left me feeling helpless about how to comfort her. I wanted her to know that she wasn't. She would never be dirty or tainted. Not in my eyes.

"I don't think you are dirty." I whispered.

"How can you not!" She snapped. "He touched me! He ran his dirty bloodied fingers over my skin!"

"Shhh…" I took her back in my arms. It didn't go without a bit of a struggle but she needed to know she wasn't dirty or tainted. "Ginny, love. No matter what he did to you. To me you'll never be dirty. You are so brave. From what I know you fought him off bravely and for a long time. You did all you could."

"I wasn't strong enough." She whimpered.

"Nonsense. You fought bravely. I'm really proud of you." I told her. She slowly let go of me and lay back against the pillow. Her face still wet with tears and her eyes still fearful. She looked so small like that. I held her hands for a while. Just conveying everything by one look.

"How will I go on, Harry? After what he did." She whispered.

"Well…" I ran one hand through my hair. A stress reaction. "The healer says you'll need some counseling to learn to deal with this all… but seriously Ginny. Think about it, how did you cope with what the Carrow's did to you… I'm not saying this was anything like that. This is much worse but what they did too you…"

I was afraid I had said the wrong thing, she eyes flashed with anger and I thought it was directed to me. When she didn't say anything my fear grew. All I could do was wait patiently for her reaction.

The waiting continued…

"Please, Ginny…" I whispered after I couldn't take the silence anymore.

Her eyes snapped up to me and she gave a soft smile.

"Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts." She whispered. "You are right Harry. With the Carrows I didn't feel so violated…They made sexual remarks and all, even tried to touch me, they tortured me but never this… Greyback…he… what he did… It makes me feel so violated."

"What was different now than with the Carrows?" I asked before thinking. A second later I could have hit myself. It was maybe the most insensitive thing I have ever asked her. Of course there was a different, that scumbag touched her, abused her. Of course she felt more violated. She was more violated.

Strangely Ginny seriously considered it and the answer wasn't what I expected.

"I think with the Carrow's I didn't really blame them. I blamed Tom. For me it was all his working. From my first year on I blamed the boy I had seen in the dairy for everything bad. With Greyback it was all him. His actions. I think that makes it so different. I know the Carrow's made their own decisions as well but it didn't feel like that."

I didn't know what to say or answer. I didn't even understand her answer completely. So I just nodded.

"Does that make sense?" She asked.

"Uhm… No not really but if you feel that way it must make some sense to you."

I was happy to see that she was able to chuckle a bit. Her eyes were a bit more alive.

"Besides that, how are you feeling?" I asked carefully.

"In pain." She answered honestly. "The healer says I have to stay at least a week to recover from the torture, if I don't there might be a chance that I can never play again."

"That won't happen. You'll recover completely." I said confidently.

She sighed and shook her head.

"Physically hopefully but…" She looked up at me with pleading eyes. "I can still feel him on me, Harry."

"I'm so sorry…" I whispered to her as I squeezed her hand softly. "I wish I would have been there sooner. I wish I could have prevented this from happening. We'll fight through it. You are so strong, Ginny. Don't let that piece of filth break your spirit, he isn't worth that."

She cried softly, crawling into my arms as we dealt with the pain of this attack. It was almost too much to bare. I sure hoped the curse Bill and I had shot to Greyback hurt him twice as much as Ginny was hurting now. While I held Ginny I wondered what happened to Greyback. What would Arn have done to him. We weren't any closer to finding the leak so it was only time before he would be aided to escape again. Perhaps it was better to hope that he was death.

There was a soft knock on the door and a male healer came walking in. He was followed by Maggie.

"Miss Weasley." He nodded. Ginny flinched from the rough male voice, I noticed she looked slightly afraid. Her hands tightened around my arms. The healer noticed it as well. "You don't have to be afraid, Miss Weasley. I'm not here for you, I wondered if I could talk to Mr. Potter for a second."

Ginny nodded.

"Perhaps we should do this in private." The healer suggested.

"Please don't leave me alone." Ginny whispered to me. Her eyes pleading.

"I'm not going to keep secrets from Ginny." I told the healer.

"This is about her attacker."

"What about him?!" Ginny snapped up. Her eyes were suddenly burning with anger. I wondered what that was about. I had expected her to fear him even more now. It seemed like that assumption was wrong. She was angry with him. Her eyes flashed so bright from the anger that I almost feared for Greyback's life. If he wasn't already dead, that is.

The healer sighed as walked towards the bed.

"The werewolf Greyback has been brought in by the head of the Auror office about an hour ago. The werewolf is currently undergoing treatment for spell damage but I think all treatment is useless. The Head of the Auror office was hoping to question the suspect but right now Greyback is in no state to react to anything."

"Why not?" Ginny asked.

"Well, the curses or spells used by Mr. Potter and Mr. Bill Weasley combined have a strange effect. Your attacker is only able to whimper in pain. Any movement hurts him so much that he screams. Nor does he seems to be able to think and to interrogate him that ability will be essential."

I felt a hum of satisfaction run through my veins as I though of Greyback screaming in pain.

"What was is you wanted to talk me about besides the good news on Ginny's attacker's physical state?" I asked carefully.

"I need to know what curse or spell you used on him to at least make him able to think again." The healer said.

"Oh…" I thought about it for a second. I couldn't remember what I used. I never spoke and incantation nor was I thinking clearly. "I can't really remember through my anger with him. I think the color of the curse I shot was blue and I remember wishing him a whole lot of pain but besides that, I don't know."

The healer looked thoughtful and nodded.

"At least you remember the color of the curse." He sighed. "Mr. Weasley only told me that he hoped he had made sure Greyback would be in pain for the rest of his life."

"And right he is." I muttered.

The male healer left shortly after asking Ginny how she was feeling. Ginny did her best to answer truthfully. She felt violated and in pain, physically and emotionally.

Maggie stayed and poured a goblet of potion for Ginny to drink.

"It's a dreamless-sleeping potion. You need a bit of rest." She said when Ginny looked at her with distrust.

"Please stay, Harry." She whispered to me as she took the goblet. I looked up to Maggie and she nodded.

"I will. I'll only leave the room for a few minutes to see how Luna is doing and see what Arn is up to. Alright?"

"Will Luna be okay?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know yet. The healer thought she would be alright again but wasn't really sure. Last time we heard from him Luna wasn't in the clear yet." I answered honestly.

"What happened to Luna?" She asked.

"Miss Weasley why don't you sleep first? Once you wake up Mr. Potter can answer all your questions." Maggie said kindly.

Ginny looked a bit angry at her for interrupting us but with a heavy sigh she nodded. She was resigned to listening to the healer for her own recovery. After swallowing the potion Ginny quickly fell asleep. I watched her for a few seconds, making sure that she slept soundly before turning to the healer.

"Is she suppressing everything so well or is this behavior normal?" I asked her.

"I'm surprised you caught that, Mr. Potter. Most men are just excepting that their girlfriend or wife that has been through such a thing are either a mess or dealing with it easily.

I shrugged. "I just know Ginny well enough to know that she will do everything to try and not show her weakness. Or at least what she feels as a weakness. I would do the same thing."

"It's good to know that you won't take her word for it every time she'll claim she is already." Maggie nodded. She looked at Ginny again and sighed. "Right I'm pretty sure she isn't really facing what has happened. Or at least the realization isn't there yet. It will come over time. She trusts you enough to hold her and comfort her but we just have to wait and see what will happen when her brothers or father will do that. It might be that once she wakes up and starts to really realize what has happened that she won't trust you either."

I shuddered at that thought. I was pleasantly surprised when she excepted my embrace without cursing me but to think that once she wakes up the battle starts again… I guess Maggie understood my thoughts and placed her hand comfortingly on my shoulder.

"The fact that she trusted you today is a good sign. Just don't take it for granted. Take things slow. Let her set the pace."

Ginny's POV.

Dreamless sleep potion is seriously the best invention in magical history. I slept for hours without nightmares or dreams. Just silence. No thoughts, no flashes of images that could scare me, nothing.

Once I realized I was awake again I groaned softly. My body was so tired and sore. I just wanted to go back to sleep. I tried to turn to my side but my body wasn't cooperating. Everything just protested. Every movement seemed to hurt.

I tried again but the pain was too much. I let out a louder groan of pain.

"Please don't try too move, Miss Weasley." A female voice spoke. The voice was some how related to the pain but I couldn't find the connection.

My mind still full of the silent bliss from my sleep just didn't want to get started.

"Please drink this, it will make the pain less." The voice said again and I felt something cold press against my lips. It force itself quite roughly into my mouth and liquid poured down my throat. Forcing me to swallow.

I shuddered as the cold liquid ran down my throat but it immediately did what the voice promised. My body stopped throbbing in pain but with that my mind caught up and pulled me out of my sleeping bliss.

My eyes flashed open and saw Harry standing at the end of the bed watching me with great concern. Next to me stood the old healer I recognized from before my sleep.

"Welcome to the world of the living again, miss Weasley." She said with a sweet smile. "You have been sleeping for almost a day, if you were wondering. Your body needed it so I let you but you must be sore and stiff right now."

It took me a minute to full understand what she meant. The dreamless sleep potion I remembered. I flinched as I remembered why I needed it. Already I felt the tears running down my face. Slowly I started to remember more details. My mind wanted to focus on the horrific feel of what Greyback did but something else lingered in my mind. A promise. Luna!

I sought Harry's eyes again. He was still looking at me with great concern but there was nothing that indicated Luna was dead.

"Luna?" I whispered.

Harry seemed to let out a sigh of relieve and stepped around the bed and sat down on the edge next to my legs. He seemed very careful not to hurt me.

"Luna will survive." He said but I heard a but in it…

"but?" I prompted.

"It will take a long time and her healer isn't even sure she will fully recover."

I was shocked but his solemn statement. He was so dead serious about this and the pain was so apparent that I reached out for him and took his hand.

"What happened to her?" I asked.

"The same she promised us never to do again." Harry whispered.

I gasped, the sudden intake of air and the large movement of my chest did hurt like hell but I couldn't stop it.

"Who?" I asked.

"Charlie." Harry sighed.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I mulled this over. Poor Charlie. He must feel so bad right now. I felt so bad for him. However I was angry at Luna for doing something so stupid again.

"Is she hurt that badly?" I asked as I didn't know how to phrase it differently.

"She is. She is still unconscious. Almost every bone in her body had been broken by the blast of the curse. She has massive internal damage and probably some brain damage. The healers are hopeful that, that will recover fully though."

"Poor Charlie." I sighed.

Harry nodded. "He hasn't left her side since he was allowed into her room."

"What about mum and the others?"

"They are with Luna now. They have been visiting you as well while you slept."

"How is mum holding up?"

"Badly. The healers have given her some calming potions for her nerves but she is a wreck. Would you believe that she almost killed Greyback herself?"

I flinched when Harry spoke the name and close my eyes for a second to calm down. Even the mentioning of the name was enough to send my heart off flying a thousand beats per minute. When I was able to collect myself enough I looked at Harry again.

"What did she do?"

"She walked right up to his treatment room and stunned all healers before trying to strangle him." Harry said with a chuckle. "Arn was there quickly to calm down your mother but he did so with a new scar to his collection."

I nodded. I had no desire for laughing or smiling. The mentioning of Greyback had blown any positive feeling out of my system. My mind started to spiral back to those moments at the Summer house. The images flashed before my eyes and my skin started to tingle as I started to feel his hands on my body again.

I never noticed that my breathing changed but suddenly there was a loud rasping sound banging in my ears and I noticed Harry's worried look increase.

"Miss Weasley, you have to try to calm down." The healer said to me but I was too confused to understand her. "Take deep breaths!" she tried again but I couldn't I was spiraling down into a pit of pain and Greyback's voice telling me all sorts of disgusting things.

"Ginny! Love, calm down." Harry tried but his rough panicked voice only drew me further into the panicking pit.

Suddenly everything went black and everything was blissfully calm again. Utterly confused by the sudden silence I tried to open my eyes again but found that I couldn't. I tried again but the bliss of the blackness was so relaxing, so pain free that I just gave into it.

I don't know for how long I stayed in that calm darkness but suddenly I was pulled out of it. Light blinded me and the pain returned to my body.

"Welcome back, miss Weasley." I heard somebody say. A second later I recognized the voice. I turned my head to see the kind healer standing next to me with a smile on her face.

"What happened?" I whispered.

"You fainted. You had a panic attack and started to hyperventilate." She explained.

I nodded like I understood but everything was still a bit hazy.

"A councilor will be here in the next few minutes to talk to you about what happened. Mr. Potter and I will wait for that conversation to end outside this room to give the two of you some privacy."

I turned my head to see Harry still sitting at the end of my bed. The look on his face told me he was going prematurely grey. I tried to smile at him but I knew it lacked confidence. I wanted to tell him everything would be alright but sadly I knew I couldn't. Everything was wrong and would take ages to get right again. If it would be alright ever again.

A soft knock on the door announced the arrival of the councilor. A young women, maybe around thirty or something. She looked very friendly but business like.

"Good morning." She said. "I'm Linda." She held out her hand to me and I tried to shake it but my muscles were hurting too much to move. She smile sympathetically at me and shook hands with Harry. "I have to ask you to leave, Mr. Potter. At least for the first session."

I opened my mouth to protest. I couldn't imagine doing this without Harry's support but something in me stopped me. I remembered his reaction to my story about the Carrow's and what they did. I didn't want him to go through something like that ever again. So I kept my mouth shut.

Harry got up and stepped towards me. He leaned in and kissed me on the top of my head.

I shuddered slightly from my body's reaction. How could I be scared of Harry!

"You can do this, Ginny. I'll be waiting outside the door." He whispered softly.

I nodded and leaned forward for a normal kiss. I knew I needed to do that now, before fear took that as well. I didn't want my body to shy away from Harry. I trusted Harry with everything. Even with this.

Harry reacted surprised but smiled softly and gave me a soft lingering kiss. My initial reaction was utter panic and I stiffened. After a second my rational thought kicked in and reminded me once again that this was Harry. It took me a few more seconds to overcome the initial fear but when I did I answered the kiss with as much love as I could.

"I'm so proud of you already." Harry whispered when he pulled away.

"Thank you." I answered leaning my head against his.

"I'll be back as soon as you are done." He said and left the room together with Maggie. From outside the room I heard my mother talking. Immediately asking Harry all sorts of questions. I knew I had to face them at some point but I feared their reaction.

Once the room cleared Linda conjured up a chair and sat down next to me. I slowly sat up a bit but moving was hurting too much and I resigned to leaning against the pillow.

"Now, Ginny." Linda started. "I have read your status and the report of your attack that Harry, Arn and Maggie have written. I always do that before I go see a patient. That way I am more able to help than to go in blindly."

I just nodded. I started to fear this conversation already. It would only drag up pain and horror. I didn't see how it would help me.

"I must say that what you have been through for the last three years is heavy. And than I'm not even counting the reason why you are here. I read the report on your testimony against the Carrow's, that alone would leave a girl traumatized. I have to admit that I'm surprised you weren't."

I raised my eyebrows in question.

"Can you tell me why? Why were you able to deal with that?"

This wasn't what I expected. I had expected her to go to Greyback's attack immediately and I couldn't figure out why she didn't. But hell she was the professional.

"I never really thought about that." I muttered. "I mean yes it was horrible but it was a part of the war. I had chosen my allegiance and the rebellion were my own actions and decisions. It was just a price we had to pay for that."

Linda was scribbling down rapidly before looking up at me again.

"So you consider what has happened in the castle and in the war a price that you would freely pay for your freedom?"

"Yeah." I shrugged, not knowing where she was heading with this.

"Did you talk about it with someone after the war?"

"Yes, in the beginning just with Harry, after we got our group of friends established we spend a few nights talking about what happened in the castle. For good old times sort of."

"Did you go into detail with Harry about it all?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because it's the easiest way to talk to Harry. He won't rest until he knows that complete truth, he'll see through you when you hide things. Besides that I trusted him with it. He told me his horrors in detail as well."

"Do you trust Harry with everything?"

"Yes, with my life."

"Even with the details of what happened two nights ago?"

I snapped my mouth shut. Would I? I was reminded of Harry's words, '_how much is this different from what the Carrow's did_?' In that case it wasn't, not really. I knew that one day I would tell Harry but not now. I wasn't ready yet.

"Not now." I said slowly. "But I'm sure that I will when I'm ready."

"When will you be ready?"

I took a few minutes to think about that one. I was no where near comfortable enough to face what happened. Not even admit it to myself. Just like before, the thought of Greyback alone was enough to send me in a panic attack.

However I knew myself well enough to know that with Harry being there for me it would be a hell of a lot easier to confront it all. I shook my head and sighed.

"I don't know." I answered. "I tend to open up to Harry easier than to myself. I feel stronger when he is with me."

Linda nodded and smiled at me. "I'm happy to see you have somebody like Harry. And that though he is a man you still trust him. It gives me hope that you'll be able to deal with it all some day."

I nodded.

Linda took a deep breath and sighed.

"Can you tell me how you feel about what happened?"

I was prepared for that question and answered truthfully.

"Violated and dirty." I said quickly.

"And what about angry? Or sad?"

"Strangely I'm not sad. I'm upset that it happened. Given enough alone time I'll probably start thinking about how I could have prevented it. About how I would have done things differently. But there isn't any sadness, not yet at least."

"And anger?"

"Oh you bet I'm angry." I almost growled. "Angry enough to kill him with my bare hands. If I could ever find the courage to face him again." My voice fell at the end.

Linda nodded with a all revealing smile.

"How scared are you of him now?"

It took me a minute to think about it. My initial reaction was deathly afraid. My body told me to be afraid. There was however a logical side to my mind.

"Initially, deathly afraid. My body would freeze the moment I saw him and my mind go into a full panic attack. My logical part however knows that I have nothing to fear from him ever again. They won't let him free this time, if he will be ever capable of moving again."

Linda nodded again and continued scribbling. After she finished writing she read through her notes and looked thoughtfully at them. After a while she turned her attention back to me.

"Ginny, I'm not going to talk with you about what happened today. Only if you feel like you want to say something about it yourself. It's clear to me that you aren't ready to face it yet, I expected so much. Only rarely do victims of such an assault open up immediately. Tomorrow we will talk about the attack in general. Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah, why didn't we talk about the attack immediately?"

"You would shut down." She said with a shrug. "I know that from experience."

I nodded as I realized the truth of her words.

"What I would want you to do is when you have a moment alone with Harry is to see how far you can open up. Panic attack and fainting from hyperventilation won't kill you but Maggie would be angry with me is I said is was okay to go that far but just see where your boundary now is."

"What if I can't at all." I whispered.

"Than we will work from there."

Seconds later and she walked out of the room. Leaving me alone to my thoughts.

Suddenly the silence, the pain in my body and the things said crashed down upon me. Suddenly it was real. It really happened. Even though there was pain I hadn't yet fully realized that but now…I let out a cry of anguish.

My body hurt, itches and felt dirty. The words Greyback had spoken came back to me. I heard him again. Talking about all the things he was going to do to me… I started to feel his hands on me again.

"No!" I screamed as I broke down. I didn't even hear the door opening with a loud smash. Suddenly I was engulfed in strong arms. Somebody held me, murmured comfort but it did not yet sooth my pain or grief.

While I felt safe in these arms I couldn't shake off the feeling of hurt, loss and grief. I felt abused, violated and dirty. And that feeling wasn't going away. No matter how low the strong arms held me and no matter what Harry's soft voice murmured.


	61. Confusing part 1

Alright, thank you all for the supportive reviews and pm's! I love it and I'm really happy many of you support my stories. One of the greatest compliments I got was that I was a great writer and could write professionally. it's been a dream of mine that I'm trying to accomplish. it's one of the reason I don't update as much as I would like. I'm trying to my own (non-fanfic) story.

One of you asked when James would be born and another when Harry and Ginny would marry. Well on the marriage thing I don't know yet... soon I'd say. With James I have a better time frame. It the epilogue James was 12, his second year at Hogwarts. So 19 - 12 is 7. So James is born 7 years after the final battle. We know that Ginny played Quidditch for 5 years before starting a family... so it will take at least 5 years before she is ready to start a family.

_This is the first part of a long chapter that deals with Ginny's road to healing. it will take a few chapters to work through that_.

* * *

**61. Confusing. Part 1**

I was wrapped in a cage of safety. I felt safe. Strong arms wrapped around my shoulder and soft murmurs urging me to calm down. Telling me that I was safe and that nothing would harm me here.

I knew that. The safety these strong arms provided gave me enough strength to deal with the horrors in my mind, the itching of my skin and the pain in my body. I couldn't really face the memories but here I was strong enough to place them in a mental holding cell until I was ready to face them.

Later the healer came back in with a tray of potions. I took them but not really noticing them sliding down my throat. I never tasted them. I was wrapped up in my own mind. Trying to fight away the memories and listening to Harry.

Later, much later a knock on the door pulled me out of my stupor.

"Come in." Harry called softly.

I pulled my head back a bit, alerting him to my mental presence.

"Your family wants to see you." He whispered as he shifted away from me.

"Don't let go of me." I murmured back. I was afraid. Afraid of their questions and afraid of my own reactions.

"I won't." He said and pulled me a bit closer to him so I could rest my back against him. It was a lot more comfortable to sit like that and the pain lessened in my muscles.

His hands were holding mine but I missed my safe cage. I pulled his hands up slowly and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I felt more safe this way. The movement hurt slightly. My arms felt sore and stiff.

The door opened slowly and Bill walked in. I expected the rest of the family to follow but he was alone. He looked like shit. Dark circles below his eyes, unshaven and his hair wild.

"Bill?" I whispered.

"Hey." He said as he stopped at the end of the bed. He watched me carefully. There was a lot of worry in his eyes.

"You look like shit." I said softly.

He let out a hard laugh before turning his face into a soft smile.

"I guess you haven't seen yourself yet?" he chuckled.

"No I haven't." I muttered before turning to Harry. "Do I look that bad?"

Harry grimaced and nodded. "You… look…"

"Beaten up." I finished for him with a sigh.

"Yeah, something like that." He muttered.

A silence fell as I felt Bill's eyes on me. He was looking at me with worry and pain.

"Bill…" I whispered. "Come sit here." I patted the side of the bed that was still free.

He nodded and walked carefully towards me. It looked like he was approaching a scared animal that he didn't want to frighten even more.

"It's okay, Bill." I said. "I'm not afraid of you."

He sighed and relieve washed over his face.

"The healer told me to be careful. That you might be scared of a man. I was afraid that you would be scared of me."

"You and Harry saved me. I would never be afraid of you, Bill." I told him honestly. I took his hand and squeezed it softly.

After another minute of silence Bill looked at Harry.

"I spoke to Arn a few minutes ago." He said carefully.

"And?"

"He was able to extract enough memories to make a good case." Bill nodded. "They found more information than they had hoped for. Arn hopes to make more arrests tomorrow. And he found the leak."

"That is good news. Who is it?" Harry asked.

"Christian Falcon."

"From Arn's personal team?" I asked surprised.

"Yes. Arn is royally pissed off." Bill said with a chuckle.

"I can imagine that." Harry sighed. "I never thought about the possibility of the leak being so close to Arn. I thought he had scanned his employees."

"Arn was surprised as well. He did check them regularly but Christian appeared to be a very good Occlumens. Arn wants to use him as an example for the ministry and the community. He'll be publically prosecuted."

Harry and I agreed with that. Though we weren't Voldemort's men we weren't soft or forgiving either. Examples needed to be set for those who were drawn to the dark side of magic. Too many people got hurt.

"How are you feeling?" Bill suddenly asked me.

"In pain, mostly." I sighed. "My body hurts all over and moving isn't nice."

"Besides that?" He asked carefully.

"Dirty, abused and violated but with you two here very safe." I answered in all honesty. "I just wish I could take a long bath or something."

"Will that help?" Bill asked a bit surprised.

"Maybe." I shrugged. "I don't know. Right now I feel okay. Besides the pain that is but it's so confusing… memories keep coming back. Think I don't want to see or remember yet. I'm not ready for them. I just feel so brain scattered. I can't hold on to one thought."

Bill nodded. For a while he looked thoughtfully out of the window.

"How's Luna doing?" I asked him after the silence lasted too long.

"The healers don't know how much damage will remain. She drifts between consciousness and a dream like state. Charlie said she had been awake earlier and recognized him but she fell asleep soon after that again."

"Poor Charlie. I wish I could see him." I murmured.

"Do you want to see him?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I want to see them all. I'm just not sure if I'm strong enough to keep it together. I don't know Harry. I'm so confused by how I feel. I want the silence. I want not to be confronted with what happened. I wish it had never happened. I want to deal with it and move on. I can't face it, yet. I want to be there for Charlie and Luna. I want to be happy again. I want to feel alive again. I want to cry and die. I want to wash the dirty feeling of me." I rattled on. Trying to convey my feelings to them in the hope that maybe they knew what to do and make it all better again.

Harry's arms tightened around me and he kissed me softly on my cheek.

"Shhh… it's okay." He whispered. "It's okay to be confused."

I sighed and let myself sink back against him again.

"Why don't we invite the others in first." Bill said. "Fleur is dying to hug you. Mum is… well mum. And your brothers are all very worried about you. They really want to see you. Once that is over with and you still feel up to it we will get you a wheelchair and bring you to Luna and Charlie."

I nodded and smiled a little. "Always the voice of reason." I sighed.

"You know me." Bill smiled. "Shall I call them?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"Yes, lets get this over with. Only family, Bill." I told him as he walked to the door. He turned around and nodded.

Seconds later mum and Fleur ran in. Both crying, wailing and muttering all sorts of things that didn't register in my mind. I flinched at first at their rushed ways. Harry brushed his fingers through my hair to keep me calm. I was grateful when the healer stopped them from pulling me into a hug. She warned them about my muscles and how I shouldn't be moving too much. They stopped next to the bed and both looked slightly confused. With a sigh I let go of Harry's hands and held out my arms to them to accept a small hug.

Both mum and Fleur were careful but the movement still hurt like shit. My eyes moved to my brothers and Angelina.

"I'm sorry guy but you'll have to wait for a hug. It's hurts too damn much." I explained as I dropped my arms. George and Ron nodded sadly. Hermione wiped away a tear but kissed the top of my head carefully. I reached out for her hand and squeezed it. "It's okay." I whispered to her.

I looked around for my dad but I noticed he was missing.

"Where is dad?" I asked.

"He is at the ministry. Kingsley has everybody working right now to put a stop to these dark wizards popping up everywhere." Mom explained.

"Dad's not an auror. What is he doing?" I asked slightly confused.

"There were quite a lot of reports of muggle things being cursed and all. Dad has been called in to sort it all out." Ron explained.

"Kingsley asked me to start working for the ministry as well." Hermione whispered. "It's time for it I think. I put it off too long."

"What are you going to do?"

"Department for magical creatures." Hermione said carefully. "Kingsley asked me to review every law made over the last thousand years and where need rewrite them. The rewrites has to be based on research and facts not fears and dismay."

"So in other word, you'll be working your butt off until you are a hundredth and fifty years old." Harry stated.

"Something like that." Hermione laughed. "I get a team to work with me after the summer."

I nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to be talking about something that didn't deal with the horrors that swam through my head.

"When do you start?" I asked her.

"Tomorrow morning. I have been at the ministry for the last two days to look around and get familiar. I'll tell you, I still have bad memories paralyzing me every time I get there."

We all nodded.

"Hermione?" Bill spoke up. "Tell me something. Why didn't you start sooner at the ministry? I know Kingsley has all but begged you on his knees to say yes. You finally did before the wedding but we are now a few months later and you only now are starting."

"Well… I wanted to think through my options and how I wanted to live my life. For seven years since I came into the magical world I have lived in danger and fear. I didn't know any better. I first wanted to see what a peaceful magical world brought me."

"I can understand that." He nodded.

"Did you get other offers?" I asked.

"Yes." She whispered. This was information she had never shared before. By the looks of it not even with Harry.

"Like what?" Harry asked surprised.

"Well…" Hermione stalled with a red flush on her cheeks. "Gringotts offered me a job as in-house safety manager. Because they mostly blame me for escaping them after the break in. They wanted me to use my talents to help their defense. McGonagall offered me the muggle studies teaching job and I got an offer from a research society to do field research and write articles about it."

"Wow… and you choose to work for the ministry." George breathed.

"Yeah, well it's hard to resist Kingsley when he really wants something." She chuckled.

We all laughed at that. It felt good to be laughed but it sure as hell hurt. Apparently all muscles were connected somehow to your ribcage. Or at least it felt like that.

The light chatter continued for a while. I enjoyed it greatly but I started to loose my focus after half an hour. I leaned further backwards against Harry and sighed. I didn't don't why but I was tired. Just so tired.

"Just close your eyes." He whispered in my ear. And I did as he suggested. The sounds of people chatting slowly drifted away and I tumbled in a bliss full silence.

I'm not sure if I was fully sleeping but I wasn't dreaming. It was just calm, silent and comfortable. I loved this place and decided to stay in it for a while.

I was jolted back to reality by a soft shake on my shoulder.

"Ginny?"

I opened my eyes to see an empty dark room and the soft glow of candle light next to my bed.

"Harry?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Where is everybody?"

"They left hours ago. They will be back tomorrow after your session with Linda."

"Hours? What time is it?"

"Almost midnight. I woke you up so you could take your potions."

I nodded and took the goblet from him.

"Where is the healer?"

"She went to an emergency. She asked me to make sure you got your potions." Harry answers as he took the goblet back and handed me the second one.

"Urgh, they are disgusting!" I whined as I shivered away the foul taste. Harry chuckled softly. I'm sure he remembered all the potions he had to take through out his life.

After I took all the potions I leaned back against the pillow and started into the darkness at the other side of the room. I was surprised how well I had slept for a few hours. It had been a nice blissful escape from the troubles in my mind.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice that Harry sat down next to me. All the sudden I felt a hand on my upper arm close to my breast and panic hit.

I flinched away.

"No!" I yelped and pulled away even further. I searched for my wand, not even remembering or feeling that any rapid movement hurt. I just scrambled to the side of my bed away from whom ever touched me.

This all happened within a minute. A long minute before I realized what was happening. A long minute before I could rationalize through the panic. I had turned towards my attacker to fight him off when I saw only Harry sitting there in utter shock.

After a second it just clicked and my world crumbled to pieces.

"No… no… no… no…" I whispered. Tears started to flow and sobs raged through my body. "Sorry, sorry, sorry… Harry… I… sorry…" I cried.

My eyes were glued to his face as I watching horror as he worked through the shock, the hurt and than the understanding. I don't know how I deserved him but I could always count on Harry to be understanding. It only made the heartache of my actions hurt more.

Harry lifted up his hand and held it out for me to take it. I knew I was forgiven that second but it didn't make it all easier. If a little touch can startle me like that what would happen when we were back home…alone in bed… how would I go about that. How could I ever be as free in the bedroom as I was before?

I took a deep breath and took Harry's hand. He pulled me to him and held me as I cried. All the while I muttered apologies and my love for him. Hoping he was still convinced of that. After I cried it all out Harry lifted me up and placed me up against the pillow. He turned to me and looked very serious.

"Ginny, I love you. No matter what happens I'll always love you. You never need to doubt that."

"But…" I started to protect but he quickly silenced me by kissing me. I was surprised he did that and there was a hint of panic but I fought it off and let myself enjoy the feeling. Once he pulled back he smiled at me.

"No but…I would have loved you if you were muggle, veela, hag or anything in between. I love you as a witch, as a women, as my soul mate and as the keeper of my heart."

"I'm dirty Harry, he has tainted me forever. You just saw it, you can't even touch me without me flying off the handle." I argued. This time he let me but I saw in his eyes that he disagreed.

"I know you won't be feeling like it right now but to me you aren't dirty, love. What Greyback did was horrible. I wish it would have never happened to you but it has and we are going to work through this together. Like you pulled me out of my depressed periods over the last few years and helped me through all the horrors, I'll be here for you now. Together we can do this. We'll just have to take it slow."

"But I don't want slow!" I stated. "I don't want any of it. I just want to be the same I was a few days ago!" and the tears started to flow again. If anything I hated this weakness. I hated being weak and if it wasn't for the fact that I had a reason to feel like that I would have cursed myself into the next week.

"I know, Ginny, I know." He carefully rocked me back and forth. It was a calming motion. "I'll go as fast as you want me too."

"I know." I sighed. "I trust you. I really do."

"I know, love. We will get there. Now try to sleep for another few hours. When you wake up we will discus visiting Luna."

I nodded and buried my fame in his chest.

I didn't sleep as calmly as I had done before but I managed to wake up fairly well rested. Harry wasn't in the room but I wasn't really worried. He would probably be eating or washing up. I wondered for a second if he had been at home or at his work at all. I guessed not.

The healer came in with a tray full of potions.

"Good morning dear. How are you feeling?" She asked.

I moved around a bit to feel if my body was still hurting. Surprisingly it was a lot less than it had been the day before.

"Better, actually." I said.

"Good. The potions should be starting to really make a difference now. Besides that you have been sleeping a lot. That's always beneficial. If you feel up to it you can try and walk a bit around the room but you have to do it with Harry here so he can catch you if necessary."

"That would be nice." I nodded. I was already sick of lying in bed.

"Take it very slowly. You need to rebuild a lot of damaged muscles. No more than 5 minutes in an hour." The healer sounded very strict.

"Okay." I nodded. She handed me a batch of potions. Merlin! They tasted badly.

"Harry is getting you breakfast at the moment. Try to eat."

"I will. I'm actually quite hungry."

"That's good." She nodded and performed all sorts of magical scans on my body. Different colored glows wrapped around me and sometimes number would appear in the air above me. I really had no idea what they meant but Maggie was smiling. "It appears that you are healing rather quickly. Besides your muscles everything seems to heal nicely. You muscles will take a lot of work."

"What exactly happened to my muscles? They feel stiff and like they are cramping constantly."

"Well, you have been under the Cruciatus Curse for quite a long time. During the effects of the curse your muscles contract rapidly, like they do when you are training them. Only with the curse they doesn't relax in between. They start to burn up and rupture. The amount of damage depends on the duration of the curse. Many who have been under it for a long time will always have issues with exercising and activities."

"Will mine heal?" I asked worriedly.

"I think they will. You are still very young. That always helps a lot but also you were in a very good condition. Your body can take a lot. You just have to take it slowly. The healer from your Quidditch club will have to make a specialized training plan for you. I know Harry already asked Ms. Jones about that."

I nodded. I tried to move all my muscles one by one. Some hurt a lot, some wouldn't even move properly.

"Will I be ready for the next season?" I asked as I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be playing for the remainder of this season.

"I think you will. As long as you take it slowly for now. You can do the most damage now. You need at least an other week of real rest and not to much heavy activity for a month."

I nodded and thought it all over. Maggie bustled around the room. Making sure everything was tidy and charts were filled in.

"Maggie?"

"Yes."

"Can I visit Luna later today?"

"Yes, but only with somebody levitating you or in a wheelchair."

"Okay, and what about a shower or bath?"

"Do you want to take a bath?" She asked.

"Very much so."

"Alright. Just have Harry help you with moving around and lowering you into the water. The bathroom is over there." She pointed to a door at the other end of the room. "If you have issues with Harry helping you I can ask one of your sisters-in-law or your mother to help you."

"No, Harry is okay. I trust him and I need to start working on that male trust thing sooner than later anyway."

"Just take things slowly." She said with a smile and left.

Ten minutes later Harry returned with a large plate of toasts and drinks. While I was alone I had been slowly maneuvering myself up in a upright position and had brushed the ends of my hair. At least as far as I could reach without any pain.

"Good morning." He said with a smile. "I brought some food. I remember you haven't eating in a few days."

"Have you?" I countered. He just chuckled. "Anyway. Thank you, I'm really hungry."

Harry placed the tray on the table next to the bed and handed me a goblet of pumpkin juice and a small plate of toast with jam. I was really happy to eat. It drove away the awful taste of the potions and still my rumbling stomach. After the toast I have some bits of fruit.

"Harry?"

"Yes."

"Will you please help me to take a bath?"

"What?"

"Maggie said it was okay as long as somebody helped me. I really feel like a hot bath would do me good."

"Of course I'll help you but will you be okay with it?"

"I have to start at some point, Harry. I trust you and what ever happens, we'll deal."

Harry nodded carefully. I could see in his eyes that he was hesitant. I'm sure Linda or Maggie had given him all sorts of instructions about how to deal with me but I wasn't having any of it. After what happened last night I realized that I needed to learn really quickly how to deal with this all and the only thing I could think off was opening up to Harry fully. To trust him completely and to know in my heart that as long as he was with me nobody would harm me.

After a short discussion that I terribly lost Harry levitated me slowly into the air and directed me to the bathroom. I wanted to walk but he didn't want to hear a word about it. Claiming I could try that on a non slippery surface. I have nothing to argue that with.

Very carefully he lowered me on a soft chair that stood at the edge of a large bathtub.

"Do you want me to help you with your clothes?" He asked carefully.

"Please." I nodded. I started to unbutton the hospital shirt I had on. While he removed my socks. Without hesitation I removed the shirt fully knowing I was naked underneath it. I dropped to the floor and looked down. There were quite a few cuts and bruises still visible. It didn't look as bad as I had feared. There was only one large scar that I was sure off wouldn't go away.

I looked further and noticed my breasts were still a bit bruises. Without thinking I moved a finger over them to see if they were sore. I flinched as I reached a particularly dark bruise. It hurt.

I felt Harry's eyes on me as I inspected myself. My upper body wasn't in a bad shape but seeing my breasts like that brought up the worst memories. I felt Harry's hand moving closer like he was reaching out. He was careful, moving very slowly.

When his hand touched my bare shoulder I flinched a bit but I managed to fight off the panic. I looked away from his hand up to his eyes. They were wet and clouded.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you." He whispered.

I slowly picked his hand of my shoulder and brought it to my lips. Softly kissing his knuckles.

"I was the one that left in anger."

"Still…

"We will be okay, Harry. Someday soon."

He nodded and brushed his hand slowly over my cheek. I let go of his hand and untied my cotton pants. Harry held me up as I wiggled out of them. Once it dropped to the floor I removed my panties and stood before Harry completely naked.

I glanced down as saw my legs weren't in much better shape than my upper body was. Bruises were fading away and cuts were healing nicely. They wouldn't leave scars.

The results of long term torture were also very visible. Thousands of small bruise like spots ran up my calves. I sighed as I took in the damage and remembered what Maggie, the healer had said that morning. I was young I would heal quickly.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked softly.

"Yes."

I took a slow step forward to him so that he could lift me. I felt his hand slide under my legs and one around my shoulder. Again my body flinched away from the touch but I just looked at Harry's concerned face and remembered it was okay.

It wasn't easy fighting against my natural reaction to flee. It wasn't easy to push away the horrid images that Harry's touch on my skin brought back up. And it sure as hell wasn't easy to find my inner Gryffindor and battle through it but I did it! After a few slow seconds I was in Harry's arms. I couldn't help but smile. This was the first big step towards getting back to my old self.

Harry carefully lowered me into the hot water. It was so relaxing I groaned. The water was just the right temperature. I just floated for a second. Let all my issues wash away.

"You look so relaxed." Harry whispered.

"I am."

Harry let me be for a while. I took it he was just watching me from the chair. After a while I realized that I needed to get washed and get dressed. Linda would be waiting for me if I stayed too long. I opened my eyes and sat up. Movement was much easier now that I was so relaxed.

I reached over for the bath lotion and shampoo. Washing my body was easy. I could reached everything but my back without hurting myself. When I tried to reach for my hair my body protested. Harry noticed my soft whimper of pain.

"Shall I help you wash your hair?"

"Please and my back." I nodded.

He got up and reached for the shampoo. I noticed he moved carefully. I knew he did it so he didn't scare me but it was difficult to see the reality of this.

"Harry?"

"Yes, love."

"Stop walking on eggshells around me. I know why you do it and I love you for that but I don't think that it is what I need. I need you to be you… I think."

He sat down on his knees next to me and smiled. His hand ran through my hair without hesitation. The rapid movement was a trigger to bad feelings but I managed.

"See, you flinch every time I do this." He muttered.

"I know but how else will I get through this… I need to do this. I know it will be hard but please just help me."

"I will." He said with a smile. Immediately he repeated his movement. He ran his hand through my hair and brushed the strands away from my face. "Lets do your back first."

I nodded and slowly leaned forward. He still moved carefully but more direct. At first it was easy. He did my shoulders and slowly moved down to my lower back. His hands brushed over my skin and like always I got a bit excited. I thought it was a good thing and let him go on. I lost myself in the sensation of his touch.

Until he reached around me and moved to my sides. His fingers never reached even close to my breast, he just covered a bit of my ribs when it got too much. I whined softly and flinched away.

"It's okay, love." He whispered softly. He did as I had asked him to do. Continue with firm and steady movements. I knew he was careful not to touch any bruised spots or to close to my breast but he didn't stop. He let me battle my demons.

When he was done with my back he moved to my hair. I was still a tense pile of misery but he ignored it. Slowly his hands massaged my head and filled my hair with cleansing foam. It was so nice that without noticing I relaxed.

"I love you." He whispered as I leaned against his hand.

"I love you too." I said as I met his eyes. They looked worried. "Thank you for letting me deal."

"I did it but it doesn't mean I like it." He said with restrained anger.

"I know." I said as I reached out to touch his face. "I'll get there. Some day…soon."

'I know love, I know. I just want to kill Greyback right now. I think I could torture him for a few hours."

"No you can't. That would make you as bad as they are and you aren't."

"Ever faithful." He whispered to me. "Come lets rinse your hair and get you ready."

I nodded and let him carefully wash the soap out off my hair. After I was thoroughly rinsed Harry helped me out of the bath.

"I'll go get some clothes for you." Harry said as he handed me my wand.

Thank Merlin for drying charms. I had not much energy left for drying myself manually. I was tired and ready to lie down. Harry returned with a fresh set of clothes and helped me get dressed.

I noticed as his hands brushed my skin while dressing me that I had no issues with him touching my legs, arms and back. It was only when he came close to my breasts, and private area that I tensed up. It was to be expected. I could logically understand that and I could see it as a start to make things better but I was slightly afraid that I never truly would overcome those feelings. I really needed Linda to help me there.

* * *

_Authors footnote: to those who don't follow me as author. I have started 2 new stories. One about Hermione it's an AU but close canon to The Order of the Phoenix. The other is a cross over with Lord of the Rings where a traumatized Ginny ends up in Middle Earth. I hope you all will stop by and read those stories. They are my distraction when this story gets too complicated to write and I need to step away from it for a day or so._


	62. The Statement

**I am sorry about the wait. It's hard to continue this path I have chosen to take Ginny on and I realize that I can't rush this to get to the end. I have tapped into a very hurtful thing for many people and I want to do it justice. Next chapter I'm going to speed up it a bit and hopefully get Ginny on a path of emotional recovery.**

**Please enjoy this chapter. beware I cried while writing this...**

* * *

62. The Statement.

"I really want you to learn Occlumency, Ginny." Linda said to me. She handed me a book on advanced Occlumency.

"Occlumency?" I asked hesitant. I had heard of Harry's stories about Snape teaching him. They weren't good.

"Yes, at least the part that teaches us to organize our minds and makes us face memories without emotional attachment." Linda explained. "It will be an emotional painful experience the first time you face all your memories but it will help you deal with them and grow less emotional attached to them."

I didn't like the sound of that. Besides the horror of the attack at the Summer house I had many horrors in my past. Many memories I never ever wanted to face again. Linda noticed my hesitation.

"I'll help you through it. We will do it together. Or if you want it we ask Harry to join us and do the same. You can work together on it."

That did sound a lot better but would Harry wanted to do that. I knew that compared to his my memories of horrors were childsplay. He had been through so much more.

"If Harry wants to do that than it would be better." I nodded.

"I'm sure it won't be easy for him but I think it will be liberating for the both of you." She said with an understanding smile. "It will free you rather than pull you into the horrors. Just read the book. The first five chapters are the most important. Let Harry read them as well. Talk about this with him. I'll have your answer tomorrow."

I nodded and looked at the book. I was slightly afraid of it.

"I'm proud of you, Ginny. You are doing really well considering what you have gone through."

"Thank you." I nodded.

"Just take things slowly."

"I will."

Linda left the room and let Harry in. I told him about what Linda had suggested. It came as a surprise to me that he was really positive about it.

"Arn is really pushing me to give it a try and I would rather learn it with you that with some unfamiliar ministry worker that just loves the chance to dig into my head." He said.

"But what about your memories?"

"I never said it would be easy. Not for me but also not for you but I think it will help us both. It would be a final step to no more secrets."

"Can you deal with that? I know you have kept things secret, even from me but I understand your need for secrets. So I don't blame you."

"I'd rather we do it now than when after we are married. We can start completely clean."

I nodded as I liked that idea but it would mean giving up my secrets as well. There were a few I had kept hidden from everybody. And for good reason.

"I understand." I nodded.

For the rest of the morning healers came by to do tests and help me move better so my muscles would heal quicker.

Later Arial stopped by after her yearly health check. She talked about the training schedule and how they had solved my absence. She talked about the upcoming match. I assured her that if anything I would be there cheering them on.

"Gwen says there is a chance you won't be able to play again." She muttered softly.

"There is. My muscles were badly damaged but the healers and I are working hard to get a full recovery."

"So you'll be able to play again?"

"Yes. It will take more than a bit of torture to keep me from a broom."

"There is the old Ginny again." She said with a smile. "Well I have to go. Gwen is working us to our grave at the moment. She'll kill me if I'm late."

"Have fun and tell the others I miss them."

"I will. I'll see you soon."

She left with a wave as I heard my mom talking in the hall.

"They are here to visit you and Luna again." Harry muttered.

"I know. I hope they go to Luna first. I need a few minutes to gather my thoughts after all that Linda has told me. I didn't really get a chance to do that this morning."

Luckily they did. Though Harry told me that there was nothing new to report about Luna I still wanted to visit her before dinner. If it only was to see how Charlie was dealing with everything.

Lunch was brought and Harry and I shared the food while we were reading through the first few pages of the book.

In contrary of what Snape had told Harry there were more ways to clear one's mind. For many it would be like organizing a library or archive. To others it was like binding it all in books. It was a personal thing and needed to be explored quietly and with calmness.

"Sometimes I wonder why Snape did what he did." Harry muttered.

"I think that though he was on the good side he still hated you." I answered.

"Yeah, he had reason though." Harry whispered. "He lost what I can't imagine to loose. It would destroy me like it nearly destroyed him."

He ran his fingers through my hair and placed a soft kiss on my head. I knew what he is talking about and for the first time I realize the horror isn't only mine. It's hurting him as well. I lift my head so I could kiss him. First carefully, slowly I press my lips against his. Ever careful Harry let me set the pace. Slowly I open up to him a little more. Let my tongue explore his lips. It feels good and safe to be intimate like this again.

After a few seconds Harry breaks off the kiss and smiles to me with tears in his eyes.

"I won't be going anywhere soon, Harry. I won't leave you." I whispered as I kiss him softly again.

"You better not." He whispered. I could hear the tears in his voice.

We sat in silence for a while. Just holding each other and remembering that we survived. We did it.

A short whike later my family came in. They all had news to tell about what was happening outside St. Mungo's. Mom told us that she had been to the Summer house with George and they had assessed the damage but that Drooble kicked them out until he had fixed everything.

"Seriously Harry, he is a menace when it comes to his flowers and his house."

"I know, the little guy just loves that place." Harry nodded.

All I could do while they talked was remembering the rose bushes and what had happened there. The darkness of the memory was trying to take hold of me. Pulling me under in misery and madness. I could even hear his menacing voice hissing in my ear.

I tried to remember what I had read that morning and what Linda had told me about facing memories like that. All in time and when you are ready, she had said.

I was definitely not ready!

"Breath, Ginny." Harry muttered in my ear.

I did. I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before releasing in,

"Good, try again." He said softly.

I did as he said. A few times I repeated it. Just focusing on Harry's soft voice. After a few minutes I found that I could think clearly again. Bit by bit I could refocus on the talking my family was doing. I caught snippets of it as I pushed the darkness back. George was telling Harry about the happenings in Diagon Alley.

Harry's arms tightened around me and his lips brushed my hair. I could feel the love and joy he was radiating. He knew I had won that battle. I could feel his pride for me.

"Most shops are doing good business. Now with Greyback gone the werewolves are leaderless. People don't fear them as much now. So they are getting out more."

"I guess it's waiting for the next dark wizard." Dad said.

"Yeah, let's hope that we won't see one in the next century. With Voldemort, Grindewald and Greyback in one century it's enough." Harry said.

"But than you'll be without work." I said jokingly. Everybody looked at me. They seemed surprised that I was joining in the conversation.

"I'll manage. We have a lot to do before we are ready for an other battle like we had with Tom." Harry said. "Besides I said I want a quiet life."

"You will be married to me. You won't have a quiet life." I deadpanned.

"That's true." He nodded.

"I guess that's a Weasley thing. Never boring." George said a bit too seriously. Everybody broke down in laughter.

For the first time in days I really laughed. It felt so good. Like a ton of bricks fell of my shoulders.

For the next hour I managed to stay panic free. Even though they mentioned Greyback and the Summer House a few times I was able to push away the memories before they could take hold. I found that when I focus on the feeling I had when I laughed about George I could push them away much easier. Like with a patronus, you needed a strong happy feeling to make it work.

"Well we are going to check up on Luna and Charlie again before we leave. We will be back tomorrow." Mom said as everybody got up. I looked up to Harry and nodded.

"I'll come with you. I want to see Charlie and Luna." I said.

A silence fell. An uncomfortable silence. Something was up.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Well, Ginny. There are a lot of people out in the halls. Undercover reporters as well. They will look at you and maybe even want to talk to you. I'm afraid that they won't take in account what has happened, as they don't know the truth. We have kept most of it secret." Bill explained.

I looked at Harry and saw he was worried as well. I knew they were being careful with me but I had to get out of this room one day. I needed to go home soon. I was already fed up with the hospital to be honest. Though I wasn't sure how I would manage out in the real world again I just wanted to get out of here.

"I have to get out of this room soon anyway. They'll be there that day as well." I said. "Better do it now."

They weren't happy about it but I couldn't stay locked up in this room forever. I had to face the world at some point.

Harry helped me up and placed me in a wheelchair.

"I'm walking!" I said as he pushed me down.

"Luna's room is at the end off the hall, it's too far now… if you feel up to it we'll walk it tonight when it's quiet in the hall.

"Okay." I sighed.

I sat down carefully and Harry placed a blanket over my legs. I grumbled that I wasn't sick but he ignored it and slowly pushed me to the door.

"Are you sure?" He asked one last time.

"Yes, let's go to Luna."

Bill slowly opened the door and let Harry through. At first nothing happened. People just walked past and talked amongst each other. That was until somebody recognized Harry and with that me. Loud whispers ran through the hall. People started to point at me. Most of them looked shocked to see me like this.

Harry ignored it and slowly pushed me towards the other end of the hall.

We were halfway when the first reporter made his appearance. Bright flashes appeared in the hall and suddenly a man stood before us. Blocking the way.

"Miss Weasley, how do you feel? What happened? Harry refused to talk about it, could you tell us about the attack? How do you feel about Greyback? How badly are you injured?" He rattled on and on. I tried to ignore him. I tried to ignore the sudden panic. Dealing with my family and healers was one thing but this aggressive man… I couldn't help but flinch in fear. Harry's hand on my shoulder softly squeezed. It was enough to support me through it and calm me. I felt safe with him.

Rapidly more reports blocked the way and light bulbs flashed.

"Okay! Now move!" Bill suddenly roared. He stepped in front of us with his wand drawn. "My sister wants to visit her friend, let us through."

The men didn't react and continued to push their way forward. Bill got shoved a few times before he had enough. Without hesitation his wand came down and the reporters were blown away.

"Come on, Harry." He said angrily.

Harry nodded and increased the pace. Bill and George walked in front of us, shielding me from the reporters.

I honestly couldn't describe how I felt at that point. I was scared and slightly panicked. I knew Harry and my family wouldn't let me get hurt again but still I felt threatened. Like people were invading in my personal space. I never had issues with that before but right now I felt my personal space was big and people were walking into it without notice.

Besides the fear and panic I realized that these pictures would be shown to the wizarding community. They would be published and people would see me in this state. I didn't like it one bit. I hated when people saw me as weak.

I had known that with dating Harry the gossip and rumors came with it. Over the last few months I had learned that photographers following you around was something that couldn't be avoided. I had become conscious of how I looked every time I did something outside my house. Not even I wanted to look bad on a cover but every time it would hurt when awful pictures came out. This would hurt just as much.

A minute later Harry pushed me through a door of a smaller room. There was only one bed. At the side stood a few chairs but besides that it was completely clinical and clean. Almost cold.

"Hey." I whispered as I got up from the wheelchair.

Charlie turned around in shock as he heard my voice. A sad smile lit up on his face. He carefully wrapped his arms around me and hugged me.

"Oh, Gin…" He sobbed.

"It's okay." I whispered as I brushed my hand through his hair. "I'm okay."

"I'm so sorry. I haven't even been to see you." He muttered.

"It's alright, Luna needed you more than I did. I'm here now."

After a while he stepped back and carefully set me into the chair next to him.

I looked up at Luna. Her pale skin was so white. A bit more and she would have looked more like a ghost. On the wall above her numbers showed. They were keeping tabs on her vitals. I couldn't tell if they were good or not. She looked peacefully asleep but the bruises and scars showed in the soft light of the room that this wasn't a normal sleep.

"How is she doing?" I asked.

"She was awake earlier this morning but only for a few minutes or so. She said she was tired. The healers gave her dreamless sleep potions to keep the nightmares away. Though they aren't sure if she is really sleeping or slipping in and out of consciousness."

"Will she heal?"

"They think she will but the longer she sleeps or stays unconscious the less chance she has on a full recovery." Charlie whispered.

"What are they worried about?"

"Her brain and muscles. She sustained quite a lot of curse damage. Most has healed already but her current state tells them that she sustained brain damage and until she really awakes the healers can't be sure what the total damage is."

"What curse hit her?"

"I don't know." Charlie shook his head. "All I remember was a jet of a strange yellow light coming towards me and seconds later Luna was screaming in pain. I can't even remember if I attacked the werewolf that shot the curse."

"Have they found out what curse it was?" I asked Harry.

"No, there is no one with the curse knowledge big enough at the ministry at the moment to figure it out." He said sadly.

I sighed and looked at Luna again. This was the second time we were in this situation with her. She really had no sense of self preservation. She was a sweet girl but brave to the point of insanity. I wondered why she hadn't been in Gryffindor.

As a family we sat there for a while. Just keeping Charlie company. We talked a little about the news from the outside world. Charlie and I hadn't gotten much news and were interested to hear about what was going on.

After an hour or so I started to get drowsy and almost fell asleep against Harry's shoulder.

"Come on, let's get you back to your bed." He said as he carefully lifted me up.

I woke up a few ours later. It smelled delicious in the room. Next to me the healer was holding out a plate of warm food. I realized that I was hungry. Without a word I accepted the plate and carefully ate.

"It's a little late for dinner but I guess you are hungry." Maggie said.

"What's the time?"

"A little after eight." She chuckled. "You have slept without a dream for a few hours. That's good."

I nodded and focused on the food. It tasted good.

Once I was done I returned to the book about Occlumency. While I waited for Harry to return from whatever he was doing I read it. Slowly I learned about how to organize my thoughts, how to place them in safe areas and how to protect my mind against intruders.

There was also a large chapter on how to deal with traumatic memories. It was frightening to read about what I was to do to deal with my own memories. It scared me that even though I would do it with Harry by my side I still needed to do that alone.

The theory behind it all was very understandable but practical part was much more difficult. First I needed to be relaxed enough to be able to see inside my mind. There were magical tricks for that but the writer warned about the long term effect of those spells and potions. It was better to do it the natural way by meditating.

Harry return just when I finished the chapter on meditation.

"Hey." He said as he sat down next to me. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay." I nodded. "Just tired."

"You did great today." He whispered. I saw something in his face that told me something was wrong.

"What is wrong, Harry?"

"Why would anything be wrong?" He asked.

"Don't lie to me Harry, your face has always betrayed your feelings." I whispered.

He looked down at his hands and sighed.

"The press…" He started.

"How bad?" I sighed. I had known something like this would be coming anyway.

"Bad… there isn't a magazine that doesn't post you on the front page. Some have the decency to not post a picture of today on the front page but still…"

I sighed and shook my head. I hated it, don't get me wrong, I really hated the fact that we were in the spotlights like that but I had known it would be like that. It was the price we had to pay for our lives together. The fact that I was well on my way to become a well known Quidditch player wasn't helping either.

"It doesn't matter, Harry. We knew it would be like this."

"I have more issues with the rumors they are making up about this than the actual pictures. Some even claim that I cursed you because I caught you with the enemy."

"You're joking, right?" I gasped.

"Sadly, no."

I fell silent. I had thought that it was common knowledge by now that Greyback had attacked me. I remember somebody telling me that they hadn't spoken a word about it. Nor had Kingsley made an official statement about it all but to blame Harry…

"Well it's not like you aren't used to being blamed for things you didn't do." I hissed. "Harry, I want to make this public."

"What!" He shouted.

"Tomorrow I want to go out and tell them what has happened. I'll make an official statement."

"Why?"

"Because how much I believe they don't have the right to know what has happened, we can't have them accusing you of something like that, nor me for fraternizing with the enemy." I growled. "I won't have it."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked doubtful.

"Yes. I won't have them make up stories like that." I said determined. Though deep inside I wasn't that sure about the idea.

It would mean facing the truth. Honestly I haven't faced the truth yet. I kept focusing on getting my body healed. I wanted to get back into the body I had before the attack. I wanted to be able to play again. But I really had ignored admitting the truth.

Making a statement, would be admitting what has happened. Mostly to myself and I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle it. I still preferred sticking my head in the sand and ignore the elephant in the room.

"Let's sleep on it for tonight and ask Linda what she thinks in the morning. Maybe she thinks it won't be good for your recovery." Harry said.

I saw in his face that he didn't like that idea. To be more precise he was totally against it. He would rather face the gossip than have me on public display. It was noble of him but it didn't solve our problem.

"You know what, we have Lee coming here tomorrow. We do a statement with him, live on the wireless. It's only once and that's it. We trust Lee, he won't ask difficult questions."

"I like that better." He nodded. "I'll send an owl to Lee once you are asleep."

"When and where will you be sleeping?" I asked as I realized that I had never seen him sleep or did he tell me where he was sleeping.

"I haven't slept much." Harry admitted.

"Your really should get some sleep as well, Harry." I sighed. "You can stay here with me in the bed but I doubt the healers would like that."

"I'll just transform the chair into something more comfortable." Harry muttered.

"Why don't you go to Grimmauld place? You have a nice bed there and Kreacher will feed you properly."

"I'm not going to leave your side until I'm sure you are okay." He said. His tone indicated that any discussion was useless.

I did sleep that night but it wasn't peaceful and it sure as hell wasn't free of nightmares. But the nightmares had changed. I could trace the change to what had happened during the day and what I was to do the next but it didn't help with calming my fears. It wasn't about Greyback alone anymore. Now everybody I knew in the wizarding world was witnessing it while he did it.

Linda was intrigued by the chance in my nightmares. She said that it was a good thing that my unconscious mind shifted the focus from reality to my minds imagination. To her it was a sign that I was slowly coming to terms with what has happened and that I was starting to get ready to face the truth of it. I wasn't drowning in sorrow and fear she said.

During the morning Linda worked with me and Harry on meditating. She slowly taught us how to focus on your thoughts and how to create a place in your mind that would allow us to store them safely. It was like creating a library or filing cabinet.

Harry had a lot of difficulty with the meditation. He always had so much on his mind that it had become a second nature to him to be busy in his head. It was hard for him to clear his thoughts. Linda was very gentle with him, taking baby steps to make sure he got there.

For me it was a bit easier to relax and clear my mind enough to slip into meditation and enter my mind's library. I had my issues with it, mainly because my body was constantly reminding me of the attack but not as much as Harry.

Linda took a few moments at the end to explain to us how to start facing memories and how to start slow and finish with the hard parts. She also helped me prepare for my meeting with Lee. Against Harry's hopes Linda was very enthusiastic about the idea of me making a statement. Not because she thought it would help against the rumors but that it would be for me the first step in truly acknowledging what has happened. She said that only than I could work towards healing emotionally.

After lunch Lee showed up. He was careful not to make rash motions and keep his distance from me. I felt sorry that he felt the need to do that. Lee had been like Fred and George to me. A big brother. I always saw him as a brother.

"Come here, Lee." I whispered as he kept standing at the end of the bed. I sat up straight and held out my hand to him. With little strength I pulled him in a hug. "I'm alright, big brother. You don't need to be that careful around me." I whispered to him.

He wrapped his arms carefully around me and hugged me back.

"I'm just still in shock. I can't believe this has happened to you." He said as he let go. "I always thought you off all would be able to defend yourself in situations like that."

"And I did. Long enough for Bill and Harry to show up and save me from much, much worse." I said.

"Still… as your brother I should have taught you how to defend yourself the muggle way."

"Don't feel guilty about that. I don't want you to blame yourself for something like that. The only one to blame is that scumbag."

Lee nodded and went about setting his stuff up for the live registration of my statement. The healer came into the room to keep an eye on me. She had offered me to take some calming potions but I had refused. I didn't want to risk being drowsy and saying something wrong.

"Are you really sure you want to do this, Ginny?" Lee asked as he sat down on the chair next to me. Harry was sitting behind me. He was busy rubbing my back and calming me.

"Yes, Lee. Let's get this over with." I nodded.

"Alright… just a second" He tapped his equipment with his wand a few times. For just a second he pointed his wand at me and Harry before putting it away and straightened up.

"Good afternoon dear listeners." Lee started. "Here is your favorite reporter coming to you from St. Mungo's. As promised I'll give you all the news on our favorite savior and his lovely lady. As many of my listeners have owled me with many questions about the truth behind the sudden admittance to St. Mungo's of Miss Ginny –soon-to-be-Potter Weasley. Well today your are going to get it." Lee continued. He looked up to me for a last conformation. When I nodded he took a deep breath and continued his show. "I'm here in the room with Ginny and Harry. They have asked me here to bring a stop to the ridiculous rumors that are going around. I'll start the story and when you are ready you can take over, Ginny."

"Okay." I said slightly shaking with fear.

"Five days ago, late in the evening the werewolf Greyback and his new flock of Death Eaters attacked the summer residence of the Potters. This evening Ginny was home alone and outside walking in the garden. Am I correct so far?"

"Yes." I whispered. Already memories were starting to pull me back into darkness. "I was outside for stroll around the garden when I noticed somebody was attacking the wards around the grounds. I hid in the rose bushes as I watched the wolves and Death Eaters breaking down the wards."

"The wards around the Potter house must have been solid and ancient. How did a mere werewolf break through them?" Lee asked.

"They had a Gringotts curse breaker captured and under the Imperius curse. I recognized him as one of my brother's teacher." I answered. "I tried to warn Harry and my friends what was going on but I wasn't sure if he got my warning. I stayed hidden in the hope that they would think that the house was empty and leave."

"What went wrong?"

"I sat down wind. As soon as the wards fell Greyback caught my scent. He and I had a bit of history…"

"How so?"

"When Umbridge was captured, he was with her but he got away. I ran after him and when I caught up with him we dueled. During the duel he taunted me about my scent and body. He said horrible insinuating things." I explained as calmly as I could. "After that duel it got worse. He started to send me letters. In his letters he was very clear about what he wanted to do to me."

"How did you react to these letters?"

"Well at first I ignored them. Later they got more and more aggressive and insinuating. The last one had me shaking with fear. That was when I told Harry about the letters. I hated to look weak and I hated to ask others for help but it had gotten to a point that I feared to go out." I explained.

"Okay, so the night of the attack… please continue."

I nodded and took a few breaths to calm down a bit.

"Greyback came after me. I tried to hide at first. Hoping that Harry and the aurors would show up before he could get to me. It was useless." My voice climbed steadily and the pain and fear were clearly evident. "He found me. I tried to defend myself. I think I did good for a long time but I grew tired. By that time could hear the sounds of a battle coming from the house. I tried my best to protect myself until somebody would come to aid me but screaming from the house distracted me and I was hit with a torture curse."

Silent tears rolled down my face as I remembered the sounds. I now knew it had been Ange and Luna that had screamed like that. It still echoed in my ears.

"I can't remember for how long he tortured me. All I remember was him getting closer and closer. He was saying all sorts of things. Dirty things. I remember clearly that he ripped my shirt open." My voice was breaking and though I continued to speak the darkness was creeping into my heart. I took a shuddering breath and continued. "I can still feel his hands on my breast. He hurt me greatly with his roughness." I cried. I couldn't hold it back. The sobs racked through my body and talking became difficult. "He… he vanished my clothes. I was naked…"

I stopped speaking as I fell apart. I was sure the whole wizarding world could hear my crying but I couldn't care anymore. All I cared about was why? Why had it happened? Why had it happened to me? What had I done wrong?

"Harry, you were the one to find her during the battle around your house?" Lee asked him.

"Yes. Bill and I were held up at first. The battle was bad and hard. Angelina was tortured in front of my eyes. Many of us were wounded but Bill and I ran through everything in search of Ginny. We found her in the garden… Greyback was leaning over her… touching her in places…" Harry's breath stuttered and I felt him sigh. "I can't really remember how we reacted but we shot a curse at the same time at the monster."

"In what state did you find Ginny?"

"In a bad state. It was clear she had been held under the torture curse for a long time. There also had been cuts and bruises on her body that indicated she had been attacked physically. But the worse thing was that we thought she had been raped."

"She wasn't?" Lee asked professionally.

"No. We were in time to prevent that. Thank Merlin for that. But that doesn't mean much. It hurts so much to admit that he got to her. He sexually abused her!" Harry said. He was crying too but I couldn't comfort him. All I could do was share his sorrow. Maybe even adding my own to it.

When he had said I was sexually abused it finalized everything. It was a statement. It was what had happened to me.

"I think we should play a song before we continue this interview." Lee stated and tapped his equipment with his wand again. "You can now speak freely. We are off the air so to speak."

I felt Harry nodding and tighten his arms around me.

Lee picked up my hand and held it. I cried. I just cried as hard as I could. Letting it all out.

After a while Harry calmed down. He and Lee talked softly while I tried to gain some control but I failed.

"Why?" I whispered.

"What did you say, love?" Harry asked.

"Why me, Harry? Why did this happen to me? Haven't we been through enough!?" I cried.

Harry held me. Slowly rocked me. It was a calming motion and it helped a bit. The healer offered me a potion to calm me. This time I took it. It helped instantly as it made me sleepy.

The emotional stress had been too much and exhaustion overtook me as the potion worked its miracles. I fell asleep, I never heard the end of the interview.

As I closed my eyes I realized that even though I was in great pain and so terribly said and emotionally hurt, it had felt good to speak up and have it out.


	63. Memories

_**I'm back! I'm sorry I took so long! Since November I have been buying a new house, selling my old house, moving house and dealing with a bloody large amount of stress that made it near impossible to write. and I'm not claiming this to be a great chapter. I had planned on writing more but than it would be too long of a chapter.**_

_**I hope you all enjoy it. I'll focus the next month on writing a few chapters for this story.**_

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**63. Memories**

"Okay, Ginny. Relax your body and take deep breaths, focus on your memories. How they are sorted or if it's just one unorganized mess?" Linda said.

I had been home for a week now. They had released me from St. Mungo's ten days after the attack. I still wasn't able to move much but the Harpies team healer came by every morning to help me getting my muscles back to work properly.

For three hours we worked on my muscles and training them. It was a painful and tiring process but slowly after a week I started to feel results. Since two days I was able to get up on my own. Especially my legs had suffered under the long exposure to the cruciatus curse.

The work with the healer was so tiring that in the afternoon I slept or lay on the couch reading a bit. I just wasn't able to do much.

In the evenings after dinner Linda came to visit us to help us with Occlumency.

We had started it after she first proposed it. Harry was a bit reluctant but he worked with us if only it was to help me. She had started easy. At first she just worked with us to relax our mind, clear it and find the location of all our memories.

It was slow work, we really had to understand how our minds worked and how we experienced memories. I found it fascinating that my brain worked so differently than Harry's. My brain had sorted the memories in files. A large pile of files, every pile was roughly related to an important experience. It looked like a big archive.

Harry's mind was different. He described it as a library with books. His memories were pages and some lay around loose and others were already bound in books.

According to Linda it was because my way of experiencing the world was simpler than Harry's. I saw things simply black and white and maybe a little grey. Where as Harry dissected everything. Too him there were thousands shades of grey. His mind was in need of specialized books to sort everything.

Today Linda would start with us to sort our memories. She said it was necessary to go over every memory to detach the emotions from the memory. Once it was free of any emotional weight the memory could be sorted into the right file or book. It would help me to learn to deal with what happened and it would help Harry really getting over the trauma that Voldemort caused.

Today wouldn't be so difficult. First Linda would take us through happy memories. It was to teach us how to understand the memory and how to separate it from the emotions and give it a proper place.

She was starting with me…

"There are single files laying around everywhere." I whispered. My voice is soft in this trance like state. "There are piles of files that all seemed to be related to certain things. Some are drawing me in. Like they want me to open them."

"Okay, stay away from the piles. Don't give in. They probably are your bad memories and things related to bad experiences. We don't want to visit them today. Are the files colour coded?"

"Some are but not all. Most single files are."

"Okay, stay away from the red, black and white coloured ones. They are usually connected to deep emotional experiences. Do you see one with pink or yellow?"

"Yes, there is a bright pink one right in front of me."

"Pick it up and open it."

I did as Linda told me. Deep inside my mind I picked up a small file with was tied with a pink ribbon. I pulled away the ribbon and opened it. It held six pages full of text.

"Is it open?" Linda asked.

"Yes. It has six pages of text."

"Start reading it out loud. It will work as a pensieve. As soon as you read it the memory will pull you in but you won't be participating."

I looked down at the pages. I was slightly afraid that it would be a bad memory but started reading anyway.

_I saw myself walk down the stairs of the Burrow. I'm young, really young. I followed my younger self into the kitchen. My younger self is humming a song. Suddenly I know what day it was. My tenth birthday. One more year and I would be allowed to go to Hogwarts._

"_Happy birthday, sweet heart." My memory-mother said when she noticed me. "Your present is on the table." She pointed to a small package on the kitchen table._

_My true self started to feel the excitement again. I watch as I remember what's in that package._

_I chuckled as I see My memory-self bounces with excitement. Her small fingers rapidly opening the paper. Inside there is a dark box with the Gringotts seal._

_I start to feel the excitement again as my young self carefully opens the lid. Inside is a small key. The small hand is shaking as it lifts the key out of the box. _

"_Mom?" my trembling younger version asks. "Is this…" _

"_The key to your vault. Your father and I have been saving a little for you. Now that you are old enough to spend it wisely your father and I thought your should have access to it." _

_A high pitched scream echoed in the house as a ten year old me raced towards my mother and jumped into her arms. I couldn't help but laugh at the scene. I was so cute back then._

"_Thank you, thank you." _

"_You are welcome, dear." Mom memory mom said. "But please be wise about it, you'll have to do with it your whole stay at Hogwarts." _

"_I know, I will!" _

_I smiled as I watched my memory-self bounce happily through the house._

I was released by the memory and back in my memory library.

"How did you feel?" Linda asked.

"I'm okay."

"How did you feel in the memory? Did you relive the emotions of that moment?"

"Yes, not as much as I did at my birthday."

"So you see that reviewing the moment has already taken away a bit of the emotional connection."

"Yes, but that's a good memory. I want to remember it. I want to remember the happiness and excitement." I protested.

"You will. You can now choose to revisit it again and let yourself drown in the feeling or watching from outside with a cool mind. You can also do that later, recall the feeling like you do for a patronus. For now it's important that you give the memory a place. Like placing it in the appropriate file." Linda explained.

"So I have to create a file for happy memories?" I asked.

"Yes and no. For now that would be enough but as you go deeper into Occlumecy exercises and revisit other memories you'll find the need for more specific files. Like, birthday memories or happy birthday memories." Linda explained calmly. Already possible files started to pop-up in my mind. "Once we start on shielding your mind from intrusions you'll find that the more specific your files are the easier it is to shield away important memories."

I nodded carefully and started to think about a file for this memory.

"Now place that memory in a file and close the file." Linda ordered. I did as she told and opened my eyes again.

Harry was looking at me with a smile. He softly squeezed my hand in comfort.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

"I'm okay. That was a happy memory after all."

Harry nodded and smiled again.

"Harry, you're up." Linda said.

Harry nodded and closed his eyes. After five minutes of breathing exercises he nodded.

"We are going to do this like Ginny did. Stay away from the books that are calling to you."

"There are so many." Harry said slightly confused.

"That's not surprising for you, Harry. You have a lot of intense and bad memories." Linda said calmly. "Now, the lose pages you have described. Are they coded in any way?"

It tool Harry a while to answer. Like it took him a while to find a mark.

"Not really. There are a few on muggle paper, most of them or on parchment."

"Okay, my guess is that the muggle paper are from you pre-Hogwarts years. Do you want to start with those? Remember we are looking for an easy memory first."

"I'm not sure, neither time was really easy." Harry carefully said. I felt sorry for him. It must have been so difficult for him not to be able to pinpoint a really happy time in his life. "I guess I should go for the parchment, I was happy at Hogwarts."

"Okay, pick on and read it out loud."

Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

If I remembered his school years correctly he would have a big chance to pick a not so good memory. Every year had its good and its bad memories.

"I'm waking up because Hedwig is making a noise. I have a hard time opening my eyes. I feel around for my glasses to see why Hedwig is working so hard to wake me up.

Once I find them I see her sitting in the end of the bed. She is holding a letter. I leap up as I recognize the handwriting. It's from Sirius."

Harry's breath shuddered. I squeezed his hand softly but he is too lost in the memory to feel it.

"With as much speed as I can muster I crawl towards Hedwig and release her from her burden. I barely remember giving her a treat as I stare at the letter. I fear what might be in it. I hope it isn't more bad news. I have enough to deal with already.

Without further waiting I rip the seal open and pull out the letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you are all right? Don't let that old hag get on your nerves. You have better things to worry about. _

_Remus asked me to tell you that you are better off ignoring her. _

_How is your study group doing? This summer I'll help you learn so much more. You'll be prepared._

_I don't have much news and any important news couldn't be written in a letter. I just don't want to risk Hedwig's life or health and information falling into wrong hands._

_What I can tell you is that you need to learn Occlumency. I don't care how you do it. Perhaps Hermione can help you there but you need to learn it. Don't let that Dark tosser get into your head. You are so much better than that._

_Anyway, just a few more weeks, than I'll make sure that your stay with the muggles will be very short._

_Love Snuffels._

"I sit back down and sighed. He didn't tell much but I am really excited about the idea of staying with him this coming summer."

Harry sighed and opened his eyes.

"Here the memory ends." He sighed. A single tear ran down his face

"That was the last letter you received from Sirius?" I whispered.

"Yes. After that I only saw or heard from him at the ministry." Harry nodded solemn.

"It's a little part of your past. It isn't happy and it isn't sad either." Linda stated. "At that time it was a good memory but as time past that memory got an other emotion attached to it."

Harry nodded.

"When I got the letter I was really happy. The idea of spending the summer with Sirius was a dream. It turned out to be nothing more but a dream. He died a few weeks later."

"You have to give that memory a proper place, Harry. It binds you to bad emotions. If you want to become at peace with your past you have to place it properly. If anything Occlumency helps you to get peace."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes again. I saw him work to place that memory in the right book.

After ten minutes he opened his eyes again and smiled.

"That wasn't so hard." He smiled.

"You'll have to revisit that memory again after you are done sorting through all your memories. It still hold an emotional value and need to be really released from it."

Harry nodded.

Linda continued explaining how to sort through our memories and how to detach the emotions from them. She told us that viewing a memory like in a pensieve helps you to detach from it. It makes you look at it from a more analytical point and dissect the right from wrong.

She told Harry that in the past the Auror training always included Occlumency because it helped the aurors to review their tactics and see mistakes made more easily.

She told us that it was best to take half an hour each day before going to bed to sort through some memories. She clearly ordered us to stay only on the good ones. She would be there when we start on the bad ones.

For four days we did as she asked.

In the morning I would train with the healer from the team while Harry was at work. In the afternoon I would sleep while Drooble took care of the house and in the evening when Harry got back we took a while to sort through memories.

To get through it we continued Linda's technique. We spoke as we lived through the memory. It was easy for me. I could pick up all the good memories and often Harry would laugh loudly as he listened to the funny things that happened to me.

It was a lot harder to listen to Harry's memories. Very rarely he picked up a memory you could see as happy. More often he would pick memories that he viewed as okay while I almost cried for him as I realised this was his life. He never really lived. He only made sure he survived.

One evening a week after that first session with Linda, Harry and I were lying in bed. Harry just finished talking through the memory. It was the memory of his first night at Grimmauld place.

"How can that be a happy memory?" I whispered.

"Easy, I got away from the Dursley's, I got back to spending time with Sirius and I got to be with you all again."

"but what about being attacked, what about the hearing?"

"I was afraid at the time but after a while I saw it as a good thing. Albus could no longer ignore me and I was back with the people I cared about. I guess I started to see it as a good memory."

"Be honest with me, do you have any really happy memories of your childhood and Hogwarts years?" I asked carefully.

"To be honest, a few." Harry sighed. He turned to his side and faced me. We were lying nose to nose. My knees against his. Harry's hand brushed over my arms and down my side. Only since two days ago I felt okay with him touching anything else than my arms, back and face. It was hard but every time we tried I lost it.

Harry was patient and careful. He was all I could wish for and it made me feel even worse. He deserved so much more from me.

"Like what?" I asked as I tried to hold in a shudder of fear as his hand brushed over the outside of my leg.

"Like flying for the first time." Harry sighed. "It's one of the happiest memories I have. The feeling of being absolutely free. Merlin, Gin, it was one of the best moments in my life."

"Tell me one more." I demanded as I tried to keep my mind from what his hand was doing. His soft fingers slowly slid over my stomach.

"The day your brothers saved me from the Dursleys in the summer after my first year. You can't believe how happy I was to see them again. Not to mention how much fun it was to see my uncle's reaction to the flying car."

I couldn't help but chuckle. Fred and George had retold that story so many times. It was funny to hear Harry talk about it.

"What about at Hogwarts?" I asked.

"Winning the Quidditch matches are almost all good memories. Winning the house cup are good ones as well. One of the funniest memories I have is Hermione breaking Draco's nose."

"Oh, I wish I could have seen that!" I laughed.

"One of my most treasured memories is the day Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley. It the first time I really saw magic. It was like a dream. After that every morning I would wake up fearing it had been a dream."

"Isn't that a happy memory?" I asked. His hand brushed the bottom of my breast. My body tensed up and my breath hitched. Harry's eyes met mine and he looked intently to see if he could continue or if I would panic. I took a few deep breaths and tried to relax. Harry kept his hand in place and started to talk again.

"It is a happy memory but it's complicated. That was the day I found out why I had no parents. Hagrid told me about Voldemort and that he had murdered my parents." He was still watching me closely. I focused on his story and relaxed a bit. With a proud smile Harry started to move his hand again. He moved away from my breast and stayed by trailing my stomach.

"That day was the first day I was confronted with being a celebrity without knowing why. Also it was the first day somebody placed expectations on me."

"What do you mean?" I had never heard him talk about his memories of that time. He usually refused to relive memories and I understood that. His memories weren't ones that you wanted to relive. Everything was tainted by Voldemort.

"Hagrid left me at Olivanders so I could get my wand. I remember that it was a weird visit. It took a very long time to find my match there. After we found it the wand maker told me about my wand and how it was the brother wand to Voldemort's wand. He told me that he expected to see great things from me because Voldemort did great things also." Harry sighed. "It was the first time somebody said he expected something from me. It wasn't nice."

We lay silent for a while. Harry was lost in his memories and I was there right along with them. I couldn't imagine how he had felt after his visit to the wandmaker. He had only been eleven. It wasn't fair that he would have had that pressure on him at that age already.

"After that I quickly found out that everybody in the wizarding world expected something from me. Either massive failure or to save them."

"It wasn't fair of us to place those expectations on you." I whispered.

"I understood why, though. Not when I was eleven but later on, after Voldemort returned and started his war I understood why. And it wasn't even the magical world that I felt the pressure from, Dumbledore's was bad enough."

"Dumbledore pressured you?"

"Not like that but I always felt that I shouldn't and couldn't disappointment him. It almost physically hurt to see him disappointed in me."

"That's cruel."

Harry shook his head but didn't say anything. I understood what he meant. He didn't have an opinion. He loved Dumbledore like a grandfather but at some points he hated the old man just as much as he had hated Snape.

"Do you want to sleep or do another memory?" He asked me after a while.

"Let me do one more." I sighed.

I took a while to clear my head and find my memory library. I looked around slowly for happy memories. There were quite a few left but I knew they didn't hold anything important. I looked down on the floor and saw an orange tagged memory.

Deciding to take things a step further I picked it up. With a small prayer I opened the file and started reading it.

_My memory-self followed mom out of the bookshop. A noise is ahead of use. Like people fighting. My eyes leave my eleven year old self and looked to the origin of the noise. My dad is fighting with Lucius Malfoy._

I shuddered as I realize what this memory holds. Am I strong enough to continue? Am I strong enough to face this already? I feel Harry's hand on my shoulder, it's slowly rubbing me.

"_Come on, Gin. You don't want to be left behind with that man around." My memory mother calls. I follow the eyes of my eleven year old memory and see the look on Lucius face. It's like a satisfied sneer. Only now I see the signs of the set-up with the diary. The damn bastard had planned it carefully._

_I followed my memory-family quickly through the shopping street to The Leaky Cauldron. Once we got inside my mom moved away to yell at my dad. I followed my memory-self to the side of the room. Sitting in the corner waiting for the storm to blow over I see an ugly old book amongst the new books Harry gave me. I watch my younger self pick up the dairy and flip it through. _

"_No! Don't!" I yelled. "Throw it away!" _ _I'm completely forgetting that it is a memory. Nothing I do can change what happened._

_Helplessly I watched as my memory-self smile at the book. I remember thinking that it was a nice gift from my mother._

The memory suddenly ended and I snapped out of it.

"Shhhh." Harry tried to calm me. "It's just a memory. It can't hurt you anymore."

He wrapped his arms further around me and only than I noticed that I was shaking.

"It's okay, love. It's just a memory." He whispered.

"I was so innocent!" I whispered.

"It wasn't your fault."

"I have never been the same… Until you destroyed him." I shivered again.

Harry released me from his hold and held me back a bit. He looked at my face with sympathy and love.

"It's the past, love." He told me clearly. "You can tell me about it if you want but it won't change anything. I'll still love you."

"I know." I sighed. I pressed my face against his chest and tried to relax. The memory had shaken me and I couldn't really understand why.

It was a memory of a shopping trip for my first year at Hogwarts. It had been such a happy day. A whole day out with my family and with Harry. He had given me a whole set of new books. Even the diary didn't mean something yet. I had found it and thought my mom bought it for me to write about Hogwarts in.

"I guess I finally understand how most of your memories can be good and bad at the same time." I sighed. "That memory should have been a good memory. It was a nice day. Even with dad and Lucius fighting. I don't know but the memory of the diary just made it horrific. I was so innocent back than. It's hard to believe that somebody is so evil that he would do that to a little girl."

"Nobody ever blamed you. Everybody was just happy that we got out of there in one piece."

"I always blamed myself. I wasn't okay after that. I was tainted. I always felt the dark magic that was still with me. He left his traces." I admitted. It was something I never told anyone before, something I was really ashamed of. "Only after you defeated him I felt clean."

"You were touched by a Horcrux, it isn't all surprising that it lingered with you. Nobody ever asked you after it how you felt. I don't think I had ever asked you if you were okay. Only when we came back people asked."

"My mom asked me a few times the summer after it but I was too ashamed of what happened to talk about it."

"Silly girl." Harry chuckled.

"I never understood why I always felt slightly drawn to dark magic. Every time I came in contact with it I felt I wanted to do it myself. I think after you explained about the horcruxes I finally understood."

"It's over now. The books on Horcruxes are in my vault. The ministry has only one and it's in Kingsley's control. In a few years time the existence of Horcruxes will become a legend and once our children are older it will be nothing more than an old wives tale."

"I hope so." I sighed.

"Come on, love. You are tired. You need to sleep."

I was. I turned around in his arms and pressed my back against him. His arms wrapped around me. I felt protected there. Deep in my heart I knew I would be okay. As long as Harry was there I would be okay.

"I love you Harry."

"I love you too, Gin. So much." He sighed.

I closed my eyes and let the exhaustion take me. Ever since the attack I hadn't slept without nightmares. I always needed a potion to sleep properly but here in Harry's arms I forgot about the potion on the nightstand and drifted off. I slept peacefully for the first time.


	64. Facing the worst

_**Hello all! I'm back! Quick huh? i have to be honest I haven't edited this chapter much. I thought it was good already but there might be some spelling errors... Let me know if I done a poor job with them. If you find many PM me and I'll do a editing for errors and reupload a corrected version.**_

_**After this chapter the focus will switch to life in the wizarding world and build on a small bit in this chapter about how the ministry will rebuild the world. I'm done with the drama for a while. it's time we get some answers to open issues and have Ginny and Harry enjoy life. However the history will be a part as always...**_

_**Don't forget to review!**_

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**64. Facing the worst.**

A few weeks later Linda called in via floo.

"Hello Ginny!"

"Hey Linda."

"How are you doing?"

"Great, I have been trying to fly this morning." I said with a smile. "It didn't go really well but I'm getting there."

"That's great news. I was wondering if we could start our session earlier tonight. I wanted to start on the less than fun memories." Linda said. "Will Harry be home around half past six?"

"Yeah, he said he would come home early today. They are preparing Greyback's trial and were almost done."

Greyback never really regained his full faculty but Kingsley thought that it would be a good example to have a trial. He didn't want to look like the old ministers and send somebody off without a honest chance to defend himself.

"Okay, is it okay than that I come in early?"

"Yes, I'll ask Drooble to make dinner a bit early."

"Alright, I'll see you soon."

With a flash of green flames Linda's head disappeared. As soon as she was gone nervousness started to set in. I had been dreading this day for a while now.

It was a bit more than a fortnight ago when Linda helped us getting this occlumency thing started. And since than it had been going well with us. We enjoyed the intimacy of sharing our memories. We really talked about a lot of things.

I learned a lot of new things about Harry. Through his memories I learned how he became the man he was now.

Sometimes I could murder the Dursleys for what they did to Harry but when I saw the result in front of me I couldn't really find the heart to do it. Harry had grown up to be a strong man, physically and mentally.

It had been a blessing in disguise. His mental strength allowed him to help me get through the results of Greyback's attack. I think that many men would have gone crazy when denied so many times but Harry stayed calm and patient.

Whenever he tried to approach me for physical intimacy he did it with care. Every time he would go a bit further, patiently testing my limits and I let him. I trusted him that he would do what was right for me. I knew Harry would take care of me.

Harry learned a lot from the lessons as well. For him Occlumency was a useful to review all his action. Seeing his battles or actions again taught him that many things he blamed himself for had been out of his control. As Linda said it brought peace.

I learned a lot about myself as well. As I slowly made my way through the memories I recognized that the path I had taken made me as strong as I was now. I noticed that no matter what happened I had always been drawn to Harry. I also saw that I depended on the twin and Bill more than on my parents. They were the ones I would go to when I needed advise or help.

Two days ago I revisited the memory of Fred's death. I realized that deep down I had known he wasn't really gone. Not his spirit. I was still sad and the memory wasn't happy but I couldn't see it as something really dark and horrid either.

Harry said that was because I was at peace with it.

I found it strange to be so at peace with the death of my brother but Linda explained that to me Fred wasn't dead. As long as Fred's spirit was still earth bound by his twin soul he wouldn't be really dead. Linda thought because of that I never really got the chance to grieve.

"Ginny!" I heard somebody call. I turned to the fireplace to see Hermione's head in the flames.

"Hey Hermione, what's going on?" I asked as I kneeled down.

"Not much. Are you doing anything tonight? Ron and I thought we might drop in to see how you are doing. We haven't seen you in a long time."

"Oh, I was thinking the same way. I already asked if I could use the floo to travel but the healer says it's still to risky." I answered. "Sadly tonight won't be possible. Linda will be coming in early to help us through the last stages of our Occlumency training."

"Oh, that's too bad. How is that going anyway?" Hermione asked.

"It's hard." I sighed. "It takes a long time and it's very draining. Today we will be going through the bad memories."

"All of them?"

"I don't think so. Especially for Harry there are just too many. Even now we can do more than three memories a day because of how emotional draining it is."

"Does it make you feel better?"

"A little. I'm getting there slowly. Yesterday I went with Harry to the muggle shop here in town. It's a short walk and it went well. I was able to not freak out every time a man looked at me or stopped to talk with us."

"Do people there know?"

"They know something. The town is too small to keep things like that hidden. The muggles just know that I have been attacked by a man. Apparently that explains enough."

"I'm happy I live in London. People here just don't bother." Hermione sighed.

"No, it's actually really nice. People here don't stare, they just go around like normal. Only the men are a bit more careful. The girl down the street had something similar happened to her a few years back, it's nice to talk to her. She understands."

"That really nice!" Hermione said with a smile. "We really need to catch up soon."

"Yeah, we'll see each other Sunday. Mum is demanding that we come and visit."

"How will you get there?"

"Portkey. Harry has a few for traveling. Kingsley licenced him to create his own portkeys."

"Oh, I didn't know that." Hermione stated. "Okay, I'll see you Sunday. We will make other plans than."

"Yes, till Sunday. Say hello to Ron from me."

"You to Harry."

Hermione vanished from the crate. I sighed and got up to take a shower and wait till Harry and Linda showed up.

I watched myself staring at Harry's death body. I shivered as the memory of the final battle took hold of me. Harry was dead as Voldemort's feet. For a fleeting second I thought I saw him breathing but it couldn't be. Voldemort wouldn't let Harry live.

Even now after a few years had past my eyes were still clued to the limp form of the man I loved. The horror washed over me as I realized how close we had been to losing him.

Just as gruesome was the way Voldemort treated Neville. Setting the sorting hat on fire. I watched in terror as a curse flew just past me. It was aimed at me. Only now when I looked at it from a distance I saw that the curse was deflected. In fact every curse had been deflected. As soon as the battle broke out no curse aimed at us hit target. I had never noticed. Until I noticed that Harry was missing.

"Is that your top two worst memory?" Harry asked me in shock as I snapped out of the memory.

"Yes." I nodded slowly.

"What about the other memories?"

"Which one you mean?"

"The ones with Tom Riddle, the Dairy or the battle at the ministry?" He asked.

"They were bad, Harry, really bad. They have caused more nightmares and sleepless nights than I can count but nothing was as bad than believing you were dead."

Harry shook his head and sigh. I knew that for a long time he feared the impact his act had on me. He once told me that he still saw that same haunted look in my eyes from time to time.

"It's a good memory to start with for this exercise." Linda stepped in. "It's a bad memory with a lot of emotions attached to it but in the end it had a good result. You can work with that and learn how to do real Occlumency with this memory."

"How?"

"You have to revisit that memory again. Try to detach yourself from the emotions you felt. Try to look at the image from an objective point of view. Maybe analyse reaction of other people but do not let your emotion to that memory pull you back in."

I nodded and closed my eyes. The file that held my memory looked a bit different. More organized. I opened it again and started reading, this time I didn't tell the tale but focused on the memory. I tried to keep Linda's advise in mind but it wasn't easy.

Again at first I could only focus on Harry's dead body and his pale expressionless face. Once Voldemort started talking I was snapped out of it and the realisation that it wasn't real, it was a memory. Harry was still alive, he had never been death. Voldemort had failed.

That realisation caused me to look at the memory in a different way. Like Linda had suggested I was able to look at what my memory self was doing. I noticed that Neville had been the only one that did something. Nobody else was ready to battle.

I watched the actions that followed Neville's words more closely and analysed that many things could have been different. Things that could have saved lives.

I waiting with patience and interest until the memory finished.

"That was interesting." I whispered as I slowly placed the memory in the right filing cabinet.

"I take it you could analyse it?" Linda asked.

"Yes. It was like once I realised that Harry wasn't really dead there and that it was just a memory that turned out to have a happy ending, I could distance myself from it."

"Yes, that's the idea. Once you are able to take distance you and either analyse your own actions or removed your emotional attachment to it you can file it away and place a lock on it. Once you have dome it you can place charms, curses and wards on the file to keep it locked away form intruders. That's the theory of Occlumency and Legimency."

"What about your emotions that should be go along with the memory?" Harry asked.

"They will still be there. They will still be a bad memory and will have the horror and the fear attached to them but you aren't controlled by it anymore. It's like you say, 'Okay that was reality than and I still remember how it was but it's done. It's over'." Linda explained. "Once you have everything sorted, cleared and locked up in the right place you can control the memories and the emotion."

Harry and I were still very confused about all this. From the beginning I had feared to loose all the happiness I had felt in certain times. It would weigh up to the unhappy times to loose them.

"Okay let me explain it different. When facing a dementor, the creature will draw up your bad memories. In the mean time you have to struggle to pull up a happy memory to produce a patronus. Once you have a general grip on Occlumency, you are less affected by your bad memories because they haven't got the power to take control of you anymore while you can easily pull up your happy memories and let them control you. You can choose to let them take hold of you."

It started to make a bit of sense but not a whole lot. I guessed this were one of those things you had to experience.

Harry was up next.

His worse memory was even his memory. It was Tom Riddle's memory of how he killed Harry's parents. Shortly after defeating Voldemort, Harry had told me about how he had seen that memory. It was something he couldn't let go.

I listened to him talking us through the memory. I heard the anger and sadness in his voice. He was angry for obvious reasons with Voldemort but I also heard his anger when he told us that his father ordered his mom away and faced Voldemort without even his wand.

Harry cried as he told us how his father died before he could even think of what to do without a wand. More tears flowed as he told us how his mom begged to safe him.

I cried along with him as I tried to paint a picture in my head. Everything he said happened here in this house. Voldemort had walked up this stair to murder his mother in the nursery. His father had died in our hallway. It was difficult to deal with.

Once Harry opened his eyes he met mine and broke down completely. I had always known that this would be much harder for him than for me. Even after all I had been through it was never as bad as what Harry had face.

I held Harry as he cried away the pain of the memory. It was a process he would have to repeat a few times before he could deal with the pain.

No, not even being sexually abused was as bad as seeing your own parents die. Don't get me wrong, what Greyback did to me was embedded in my every fibre but still loosing my parents like that would break me.

After a while Harry regained his composure and looked up.

"Thanks, Ginny. I needed that." He whispered.

"It's okay. You know that my shoulder is always there to cry on."

"I don't like crying." He sighed.

"Many men hate crying. They see it as a sign of weakness." Linda said calmly. "You have to understand that tears aren't signs of weakness. They are what needed to make us emotionally stronger. You need to cry to release the pain. Once the pain lessens you can start dealing with the memory."

"That makes sense." Harry nodded.

"I would have suggested you'd pick a slightly less emotional memory but I guess with you that won't work. Still you have to go through this with every memory."

"I understand. I just don't like this one bit." Harry sighed.

"Just keep in mind that you are working towards something good." Linda said with a smile.

We took a break and Drooble brought us some drinks. We talked about normal things like work, the news and the upcoming trials.

"It's all over the daily Prophet." Linda said. "They are still speculating about where the lost Death Eaters are and how many there are still out there."

"There aren't that many left. Most were killed during the battle, a few got away but we caught up with them. There might only be a handful with a dark mark one the run."

"With Greyback locked up it will be a while before a new dark wizard steps up." Linda said.

"I sure hope so." Harry said.

"What will you do when you don't have dark wizards to hunt for?" Linda said.

"Restructuring the way the aurors work. Arn is very pro-active and he is working on a plan that has aurors being able to catch the dark wizard before it gets out of hand."

"How will that work?" I asked.

"Very simple actually. He is working on a kind of magical version of the muggle MI6. The MI6 isn't like a police unit as the aurors work now but they are more focused on gaining information, spying on suspects and sometimes going on missions that are designed to stop criminals in their track. Arn wants me to set up something like that with two auror teams. Than there will be a law enforcing section of a few teams that will actively patrol and take out people not obeying the law. And between those two sections there will be a section that focus more on known dark activity and solving possible crimes."

"That sounds like a very big plan. You'll need to double your people." I said.

"Yes, Kingsley has already approved of a auror training program that can handle that. The MIS, Magical Intelligence Section, will be most highly trained and takes the longest to develop. The enforcer section will only take two years to be trained for. So within two years we can have the first section ready."

"It sounds very interesting. I should tell this to my brother." Linda said. "He is a closet wizard at Scotland yard. He wasn't let in the auror training program but still wanted to go into law enforcement. He loves his job but he greatly misses using magic."

"He sounds like a ready candidate and somebody that could advise us a bit." Harry nodded.

"Perhaps we could meet up someday soon. With Arn and your husband. Just to see with he has to say." Harry mused.

"I'm sure he would love that."

Harry nodded and went on to ask about Linda's husband's job. Linda explained in great detail how it was for a wizard to work in the muggle world. It didn't sound easy and it wasn't something I could ever do. I relied on magic too much just to get through the day.

"Okay, shall we continue?" Linda said after a while.

We nodded and took fifteen minutes to meditate and clean up the mess in our heads. Completely calm we started on the hard part.

"Now Ginny. I think you are ready to face the memory of the attack."

I wasn't sure about that but I had to do it sometime.

In my mind's library I turned to the file that was coded with a black ribbon. It looked fairly new. I slowly opened it. I felt my whole body shake as the text of my memory appeared on the parchment in my mind's filing system.

Immediately I was pulled in. Landing beside the rosebushes my memory-self was hiding under. It took a second for the emotions to appear but when they hit it was paralysing.

There was apart of me that realized it wasn't going to happen again, that it was just a memory but the bigger part was reliving it all over again.

As I stood there shaking with fear I watched as Greyback found me. His taunting words turned my stomach and had me retch. I couldn't even feel proud of myself as I saw that I had been the first one to throw a curse. Attacking rather than being attacked.

I never noticed that Harry wrapped his arms around me, nor did I hear Linda calling to me. All I could do was watch in horror as Greyback got the best of me and attacked me with the Crusiatus curse.

My body was violently shaking as Greyback started to touch my memory-self. I couldn't tell you what was worst experiencing it in the haze of the pain from the torture or seeing it happening to me.

For the first time I saw what he had done to me. When it happened I had been too dazed by the pain and fear. My brain had blocked parts out. Now I saw. Now I knew.

He has used the torture curse a few more times until my memory-self stopped struggling. Some how I realized that, that was the moment my muscles gave up and got hurt so badly.

The memory stopped when Greyback was blasted off me and Harry wrapped his arms around me.

Coming back to reality was even harder. The first thing I saw was emerald green and broke into pieces just like Harry had done a while ago. Only my pieces weren't only tears. Loud sobs, wailing and actual retching accompanied my break down.

I felt so bad and so dirty again.

Harry held me in his strong hold so that I couldn't hurt myself as I struggled to keep control of myself and my magic. The pain and the anger combined made my magic run wild.

"Ginny." He suddenly called. He gently but firm turned my head to face him and his eyes met mine. I tried to regain my breath but everything started to slip out of my control.

Than, suddenly, there was peace and calm. Suddenly everything was silent; there was no more pain, no more anger. Just an empty space of love and peace.

At first I was afraid something bad happened. It wasn't normal that I went from a complete state for panic to this calm, relaxed state.

"_Ginny"_ I suddenly heard inside my head. It was Harry's voice.

"_Ginny."_

"_Harry?" _

"_It's me. It's okay. Calm down." _

"_I am calm." _

"_Your mind is now, but your body isn't." _

"_What is happening?" _I suddenly remember that this wasn't normal.

"_I'm in control of your mind. I think." _

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Remember what happened in the cave. When you were pulled into my mind. Like Legimency?" _

"_Yes." _

"_I guess I tried to do it the other way around. You are panicking just like I did then. Only I entered your mind consciously. I don't know how I did it but I pushed away the panic in your mind and created this place." _

"_But how?" _

"_I don't know! More important is that you have to calm down. Your body needs to calm down!" _

I felt Harry pull back a bit and the fear that had flooded me returned. Somewhere in the distance I heard Harry talking to me.

"Ginny, try."

It echoed through my mind.

"_Ginny, take deep breaths_." Echoed again.

It was very confusing, like I was trapped in a maze of panic, fear, pain and the peace Harry created. I couldn't find my way out.

"_Ginny, please. You're alright. Everything will be alright_."

Than suddenly, Harry appeared in front of me. I knew it was in my mind. I was trapped there. The memory had triggered something I had managed to push away all this time but now it was released and it trapped me. Yet, Harry was here.

I moved towards him. Reaching out.

"_What are you doing here?"_ I asked. My voice was high with panic.

"_Coming to get you out."_

"_How?"_

"_You have to listened to me, Ginny. Trust me_."

I nodded. Of course I trusted Harry.

"_Ginny, listened to me, take deep breaths. One in, one out." _

I did as he said.

"_Good, repeat it a few times_."

"_I'm so scared, Harry. It holds me. I'm unable to move."_

"_I'm here, nothing will hurt you. There is nothing to be afraid off. It's just a bad memory. Now try to breath deeply. Trust me." _

It wasn't easy, even in my mind it was hard to make anything cooperate. But if anything I did it for Harry. I had to do it for him. He looked so worried.

The first breath was hard. I literally had to tell each muscle what to do but the second one got a bit easier and every breath after that was easier.

At a certain point the connection to my body started to work again. I was released from that bubble of fear and panic.

"Oh thank goodness!" I heard somebody call out. The voice wasn't from Harry or from Linda. It was my mom.

"Mom?"

"Oh honey, you scared us all." She said as she came into view. Now that I started to regain full control over myself again I realised that I wasn't in the living room anymore.

I looked around for a second and saw that I was laying in my bed. It was dark outside. My father sat in a corner, he looked worried. Harry was sitting next to me, his eyes never left my face. Linda stood at the end of the bed, her face pale and tears streaked down her face.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I'm so sorry, Ginny!" Linda wailed softly. "I never thought this might happen. If Harry wasn't there…"

I turned to Harry for an answer.

"I don't know what happened Ginny. First everything was going okay. You were reliving the memory, as you should have. It was just like all your bad memories. You cried, sobbed and shook greatly. When you pulled out of the memory you opened your eyes and started throwing up. I think it got too distracting for you and you couldn't close the memory. It took you. One moment you where looking at me and an other your eyes closed and you started to trash and panicked."

"That I remember. You held me. It was all that helped me not lashing out with magic."

"Your magic went crazy, Ginny. Enough to make a lesser witch loose control for forever. The only thing that saved you was that you were mentally almost finished with your Occlumency. It's how you kept it under control." Linda explained through the sobs.

"It could have killed you and every one in the room." Harry whispered.

"But how? Why did it happen?"

"I don't know, Ginny. Maybe you had locked that memory away with a dark curse that made you react like. Maybe, unconsciously you had already done what we were trying to do and reopening that memory unleashed a curse that you while protecting yourself had placed on that memory."

"I remember that the file was bound by a black ribbon but it looked slightly different than all the other memory. I thought it was because it was a newer memory."

"It might be. I don't know. This is beyond my knowledge." Linda said sadly.

"What happened after that? I saw you, Harry. First I only heard you but later I saw you as well."

"I can't explain it, love." Harry sighed as he shook his head. "From the first moment you met my eyes after revisiting the memory I felt you pull me in. Into your mind. I felt your fear and pain. I somehow felt how you got trapped in the pain and fear. I acted on instinct."

"Like always. Saving me." I said with a smile.

"Ginny, what you and Harry have… That connection is very special. I don't know enough about it to explain it but it's a soul mate connection." Linda said. "It was what saved us all today. If Harry hadn't been able to calm you down enough for you to keep control of your magic, at some point you would have created a magical explosion. It was constantly bubbling in the room. It scared the hell out of me."

Silence fell as we all thought about her words. Mom was the first to break it.

"Drooble in a state of clarity alerted us. He thought that maybe your mother could calm you down."

"It was what always worked with Mistress Lily. After her mother died, my mistress was the one to calm her down when master James couldn't." Drooble explained.

"You did good, Drooble." Harry said. "It was a good idea."

"There is an healer on his way here to check on you." Mom said.

"Why?"

"You used your muscles too much. We need to make sure that you didn't do any damage to them. It's best to get a healer here as quickly as possible." Harry explained.

"Okay." I sighed.

"Ginny, I am really sorry about all this. I never had something like this happen." Linda said.

"It's okay, Linda. We are being used to being the exemption." I sighed.

"I want to see what damage or good this has done on your mental health but I'm afraid that I'm not skilled enough to help you with this. I'm going to see if a friend of mine has time to help you. He is an expert in the magic of the mind. He'll be able to safely help you deal with the memory. Also I am hoping that he can give you and Harry some answers on that connection you two have."

"Can he?" Harry asked.

"I think so. He has researched the ways of the mind for seventy long years. If he doesn't know I don't think anyone will know."

"Okay, I'm open to his help." I said.

Linda smiled and bid us goodnight as soon as the healer arrived. As a St. Mungo's employee she gave him a short rundown of what had happened and why he was there before she left the room.

The healer quickly performed some analysing spells to examine if anything was wrong with me but he found nothing more than the damage that was already done by Greyback. He handed me some potions to relax my muscles a bit more and to help them heal quicker. It was just to aid them through the experience of today.

After reassuring my parents and Harry that I was physically as good as I was five hours ago he left. My parents soon followed.

It had been an exhausting day that had created more questions than answers. The only thing it had done was re-establishing that Harry and I belonged together. Our love could deal with everything.

For the first time since Greyback attacked me I felt good enough to embrace that love. Without fear I let myself submerge in the love Harry gave me. There wasn't a single strain of thought that was linked to the fear I had felt before. I just gave myself into Harry and enjoyed his loving touch.

He didn't go far, there was no intercourse but he brought me back. He brought back the woman I was before the attack.


	65. Planning

_**Pfff. Finally! I'm so sorry I haven't updated like I planned. At the beginning of March I got ill, I even spend a week in the **_**_hospital three weeks ago. I was so ill that I couldn't even spend 5 minutes writing. This week is the first time in two months I have started writing again. I finished this chapter today but it's fairly unedited so I'm hoping there aren't too many mistakes._**

**_After all the dark chapters I wanted a light and happy one. This one turned out to be lemony as well..._**

**_I hope it turned out to be a good chapter... let me know..._**

**_(last note, I received many comments and help to my last chapter. even somebody who wrote corrections for me. Thank you all... I learn a lot from that. If I haven't replied back to you personally I'll do that soon. I just wasn't able before.) _**

* * *

**65. Planning.**

24th of July 2000

I sighed as I sat back. The warmth of the summer sun was soothing on my aching muscles. The recovery trainer had been brutal this morning. He was pushing me now that the healer said my body was ready to be rebuild. With any luck I would be back on the pitch at the beginning of next season.

For now all I could do was train in the morning and recover the afternoon and go for a run in the evening with Harry.

When Michael our recovery trainer suggested running to rebuild my stamina I thought he had gone crazy. That sorts of training was for muggles. Wizards rarely did things like that. Harry of course thought it a good idea and convinced me to do it. After a week of aching muscles I started to realize how good running for me is. It was a nice way to exercise and clear my head. It was almost meditating.

After that week Harry decided to join me. Which I was really happy about. While I no longer had the panic attacks thanks to Greyback, I still wasn't there yet. I was happy to have Harry there for the moments I needed support.

The sessions with Linda had been very helpful. After that traumatic session of unlocking my worst memory I starts to heal. I still had tons of questions and small steps to take but Linda and Harry helped me through it.

The answering of the biggest questions that, that session had brought forth had to wait. Linda's friend couldn't meet with us for another month. He was away on a research trip. We were waiting for him to return for over three months already.

Linda had written him a letter about our questions and issues. She got a reply back that he would love to meet with us after his research trip. He claimed he would be back no later than the end of August.

So there was nothing else to do than wait and enjoy the summer.

Harry and I had plans for a summer holiday but it was on a hold until Harry was done with the reforming of the Auror office together with Arn and Kingsley. He worked long hours to get their whole new system set up. Three months ago he had hired Linda's brother Eman to help the department with it.

Linda's brother had been a blessing. He had so much advise and ideas about how to make a system like the muggles have work for the magical world that Harry was stuck for hours in their brainstorm sessions.

After two months they had the rough lines for the department drawn out and were busy restructuring the organisation. These new structures weren't welcomed by all. The old pure-blood idiots in the Wizengamot voted against the plans. Luckily the majority was blinded by Harry's fame and votes for the new rules. (seriously, Harry could pass a law to open our world to muggles and they would agree)

Anyway for now Arn would run the intelligence team and the department in a whole. Harry would lead the other two units with Linda's brother running the crime solving united and Harry focused on setting up auror patrol and getting the aurors out more actively against crimes.

I was proud of Harry. This had been his idea completely. He had pushed for it and written down all the laws that were necessary to get it started. Hermione had literally tears in her eyes when we attended the presentation of the new structure for the press.

So with Harry away for many hours of the day. My friends all busy with work I was bored.

I wasn't willing to spend my days with my mom or shopping in Diagon Alley. Nor was I somebody that would read hours at an end like Hermione did on her free days. After spending two weeks going insane with boredom I decided it was time to start on the wedding plans.

After our engagement details was made common news by Lee the pressure started to build up for us to pick a date. Witch Weekly and Teen Witch Magazine often posted rumors and false things about our wedding. When ever I did go out people or press would ask about a date.

I talked to Harry about it after I had enough of the questions. He didn't mind them as much but ever the gentleman he said if it made me happy he would marry me tomorrow and be done with it.

"What ever makes you happy." He said with an all-winning smile.

Having always been a girl amongst boys a wedding had never really been on my mind. When I was in my 'Harry the Super Hero'-crush phase I had imagined a princes wedding with a big poofy dress, flower, fairies and my knight in shining armour taking me away. Now I don't know what I want.

The war, aging and just life in general had changed me. It had changed my ideas of the world. It had made me realize that nothing ever is as it is in your dreams.

Yesterday I finally gave in and realized that I would have to research deeper into all this wedding stuff. On a whim I apparated to London and went to a wedding planner office in Diagon Alley. I picked up some books and magazines to read through and also decided to go to Muggle London to see how the muggles threw a wedding.

Armed with two large piles of books and magazines I dived into the world of big white dresses and wedding cakes.

I sighed again as I picked up the book on magical wedding ideas. I ruffled through the pages. There were many good ideas but none really spoke to me.

A small pop just down the road announced distraction.

"Ginny?" Somebody called me.

"In the garden!"

"Hey Gin. Where is Drooble? Normally he would insist on leading me to you." Fleur said as she stepped through the kitchen door.

"Hey, Fleur. Drooble is doing some shopping for me and I think Kreacher is still cleaning up the mess from the party last night in London."

"So your alone."

"Yeah, for just an hour or so." I nodded. "Want something to drink?" I offered her as I held up the pitcher with lemon juice and ice.

"Yes, please." Fleur sighed as she sat next to me. "Molly is baby sitting so I could do a complete cleaning of the house but I got bored half way through it."

I laughed loudly. It's so like Fleur to plan one thing and end up doing something different.

"Well, you are most welcome. I was going insane with these books."

Fleur picked up the book I was reading.

"Oh, did you pick a date?"

"No, just trying to get an idea of what I want with this wedding." I sighed. "I don't even know if I want a winter, summer or destination wedding. So setting a date is quite useless."

"Why the books then?" Fleur asked.

"To get an idea of what I want."

"What about Harry? He normally has a opinion, sure he has an idea of what he want?"

"Yes, you'd think that!" I groaned. "His opinion is 'as long as Ginny is happy'. So that's completely useless."

Fleur chuckled. "That's Harry's opinion most of the time."

"Yes, so I'm going through these books to see if there is something that I would like."

"Did you see anything you like yet?"

"Not really. I had been thinking about a winter wedding but thinking about dressing and pictures and location it's just not practical. No offense but I really don't want to get married at the Burrow."

"Then, what do you want?" Fleur asked. "Do you want a small wedding, something romantic. Or do you want something traditional, or a beach wedding. Something light and breezy. Do you want to throw a big party?"

"I really don't know." I sighed. I took a minute to think about what she suggested. "I want nothing big or a lot of people there. Just family and friends. I know for sure that Harry hates all these official things and traditions, so I don't think a real traditional wedding would fit us. Neither muggle or magical."

"So that eliminated about half of the wedding ideas in these books." Fleur said enthusiastically. I laughed at her happy face and suggest we would go through them together. I realized that maybe Fleur could help me with this more than I had thought at first. After all she had her wedding not too long ago.

Two hours later Fleur excused herself. She had been away from home long enough and mom would drop off Victoire soon. I walked her out and stood waving from the front door until she reached the apparition point.

I sighed and went back inside. I walked through the cottage back to the back garden thinking about the wedding. Fleur had been really helpful. She had helped me focus in to two options. I would either have a spring wedding in Scotland in an ancient castle. A homage to our years at Hogwarts but also because I loved the idea of a medieval style wedding with beautiful dresses, beautiful pictures, a great hall with lots of food and drinks.

The other idea was a beach wedding far away from England. Somewhere warm with white beaches and beautiful sunsets. I could imagine myself in a soft dress with bare feet standing in front of an altar, Harry in white shorts and a white cotton button-down shirt.

However, Harry in a traditional Scottish look, kilt and all was very appealing as well.

"What's got you smiling like a cat?" Somebody said behind me. I jolted up and snapped up my wand in the same movement. It was cursing ready before I realized it was Harry's voice that startled me.

"Jeez, Harry. Don't sneak up at me like that."

"I called your name twice with no reaction." He chuckled. "So where were you with your thoughts?" He asked as he sat down next to me.

I stuffed my wand back in its holster and sat down.

"Weddings, actually."

"Wow, really. I never thought that something so 'unnecessary' would have you smiling so much." I chuckled at his joke, I had indeed claimed often that a big wedding was a unnecessary waist of money. "What was it specifically that you were smiling about?"

"Well, actually I was thinking about how sexy you would look in a Scottish kilt." I whispered sultry. I stood up and pressed my full body against his. My lips brushing his jaw. "Honestly I don't think we would make it to a reception with you wearing something like that."

"Hmmm… A Scottish kilt, huh?"

"Would look so damn sexy." I mused. "Traditionally worn of course…"

With Harry's patience and love I had slowly started to feel like myself again. I regained the feeling of wanton and sexual need. I could once again give myself completely to him. And even better I started to feel confident enough to seduce him again.

Harry leaned down and stole my next words with a kiss. A hot searing kiss it made me shiver. I pulled myself even closer to him and deepened the kiss. His tongue brushed my lips and I couldn't help the moan that escaped.

"Tell me more about that kilt. Why were you thinking about me in a kilt?" Harry's husky voice demanded.

"Well, Fleur was here this afternoon, she helped me through all this wedding mess."

"Did you make any progress with that?"

"Right now I can't seem too decided between a traditional Scottish Castle wedding or a beach wedding somewhere far away where it's warm and sunny."

"Both sound splendid." Harry said as he lifted me up and turned towards the stairs.

"That's not very helpful, Harry." I groaned.

"I know but all I care is that I get to be your husband and that you are happy." He said with a smirk. He was toying with me.

I decided he had enjoyed this too much. I struggled for a while against his hold on me before he couldn't hold me any more. With a light step I held my balance and landed on my feet. Spinning around quickly I grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him on the bed before he could recover from his surprise.

With a flick of my wand roped tied him down on the bed.

I smirked as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Now…" I started with a sneer.

I was acting braver than I really was. Seeing Harry tied helplessly on that bed brought bad memories back. For a second I remembered how helpless I had felt. It was only for a second because I noticed the lust and humour in his eyes. I realized that he was enjoying this and didn't feel helpless. I took a steadying breath and replaced my smirk. "You mister, are a terrible tease and a hopeless husband. You are supposed to be helpful and supportive."

"But I was! I support every decision that you make." Harry protested.

"No, you were just dumping it on me." I argued. With another flick of my wand I vanished his clothes.

The look of Harry Potter completely naked still held me. No matter how often I saw it, it was just amazing. He was still slightly thin but two years after the war his body had slowly recovered from years of neglect. He has build quite a bit of hard muscles and gained enough bulk to make his body all man.

My eyes flickers to the part of his body that I appreciated most. I didn't fail to notice that he was already really excited.

"Now tell me. Which do you prefer?"

"You know I have no opinion, love." He stated again.

I removed my shorts and top and I made sure to make a show of it for him.

"Really?" I mused as I ran my hand up my body. "A Scottish wedding sounds fun to me. A small romantic castle for the reception. You wearing a kilt. No boxers under it." With each sentence I moved closer to Harry. Never taking my eyes of him or my hands from my body. Slowly I removed my bra. "That would be enough to sway me." I breathed as I pinched my nipple. A shiver ran down my spine and into my core.

"I do wonder if that would make you happy?" I mused.

I turned around so he could see my back. Carefully I bend down and stripped of my thong. I made sure I gave him a good view of it all.

"That would make me happy." He moaned. I heard the bed creak as struggles against the ropes.

"Really? But that would have to wait till after the party. I can't go walk around naked on my wedding." I chuckled.

"Skip the party." He breathed.

"Can't do that. Now lets see. Yes, a Scottish wedding wouldn't be really warm so I'll be wearing something with a bit more fabric." I explained as I carefully lifted one knee onto the bed. I watched Harry's face and wasn't disappointed that his eyes immediately snapped to what my move was revealing. It lighted a new fire in his eyes. "Maybe a long curve hugging elegant dress with a corset top. It might be something a bit revealing. Long sleeves." I smiled at the idea. "What do you think? Convinced already?"

"Love, you would look beautiful in anything. As long as you are there I'm okay with anything."

I practically growled at him. He was so unhelpful! Time for the next move. Slowly I straddled him just above his knees. His cock right in front of me. Taking a second to recollect myself again remembering that Harry was enjoying this just as much as I am and that I wasn't forcing him like that monster had done to me. I leaned forward and kissed the head. I grinned as I heard him moan.

"I imagine that we would have a long table with us at the head. Tons of food and drinks." I dragged my tongue down and up again.

"Sounds lovely." He moaned.

"Live music." I said as I pulled back from him.

"Gin…" He breathed.

I ran my hands up his inner thigh until I reached his balls. Softly I played with them as I watched Harry's eyes lit up with even more fire.

"We could dance all night. You might want to take classes first though." I stopped my actions and looked at him. "I have heard rumours that you can't dance to safe your life. I want you to be able to dance on our wedding."

"What ever you want love. Please Ginny…"

"Please what?"

"Touch me. Release me." He moaned.

"Only if you are helpful." I said with a sneer. I leaned forward again and licked the length of his cock. His hips pushing forward as much as they could to gain a bit more friction. "Now that's the Scottish idea. Now for the beach wedding."

"Ginny, please…"

"Begging won't help you, Harry." I breathed. "Now let me explain." I took him in my hand and slowly pumped. "You in white linen pants and button down shirt. My in a light white dress. White sandy beach with a blue ocean and a beautiful sunset while we exchange vows."

"Oh, oh…" Harry breathed as I increased the pace.

"We would have to arrange transport for everybody but when we are so far away we don't have to worry about uninvited guests, especially those with camera's."

All Harry could do was nod.

"The reception we would have in a luxurious cabana. Of course lots of food and drinks and hours of dancing. We would end in a hotel and enjoy our wedding night in style."

I let go of him and got off the bed. The shock on his face was clear.

"Ginny?" He asked confused. His voice was rough with lust and it was clear that he just came out of a haze. "Please…" He moaned. I could see his body shaking with need. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost, I hadn't forgotten what had gotten him in that position in the first place.

"Tell me Harry, which idea do you prefer?" I said as I ran my hands over my body again.

"I can't think, Ginny." He groaned.

I pushed on. I took my breast in my hands and slowly kneading them. The lustful haze started to take me. In the distance I heard Harry moan again.

"Tell me, Harry?" I pressed.

"Ginny please…"

"No, Harry. You first need to tell me."

I moved my hands down my stomach to my wet core. I carefully spread my legs a bit and brushed my fingers over my clit. Gods it felt good. A loud moan escaped me.

"Okay!" Harry yelped.

I stopped and looked at him. He looked lost in lust and need. I slowly walked towards him.

"What, okay?"

"Okay, I give in." he groaned.

"Really? So you are going to be a bit more helpful?"

"Yes, please Ginny. Please."

I smiled at him and climbed back on the bed. I would never admit it but at that moment my need for him was bigger than my need for his answer. I just wanted him right now and answers be damned.

I straddled him again. Now right above his rock hard cock. I took him in my hand and guided him towards me. I slowly lowered myself onto him, stopping just before he really entered me.

"So which wedding you like the most?" I asked.

He wiggled under me, trying to loosen the roped and take me without answering but I wasn't going to let that happen. The roped with in place properly.

"I'm waiting…"

His eyes snapped up to me. The lust in his eyes took me over and I couldn't hold out any longer. With a loud moan I moved and took him in me completely.

Somewhere in the motion of riding him I felt my wand rolling against my leg. I took it and waved it quickly to release Harry. Within a second I was on my back and Harry pounding in me, his cock filling me and hitting that good spot with every move.

All thoughts about a wedding were forgotten as we made love.

It wasn't long before we both reached our cliffs and together we fell off in the most delicious way.

"Oh, Merlin… Ginny…" Harry moaned as he came down from his high. "You are the most evil woman I have ever known."

"Not evil enough." I sighed. "You still haven't answered me."

Harry chuckled and kissed the top of my head.

"I love you Gin, and I honestly don't really care about the type of wedding we have as long as you will become my wife."

I opened my mouth to protest but he quickly silenced me with a kiss.

"How about a shower and getting dressed. While we have dinner we go over your ideas and I'll tell you what I think."

"Really?" I asked. He had been resisting being of any help every time I asked him. I wasn't very hopeful about this time.

"Yes." He chuckled. "I promised, didn't I?"

"I guess you did." I nodded.

An hour later Harry and I were outside finishing up dinner and going over all the ideas Fleur and I had pulled together. I had spend the whole dinner explaining pro's and con's to Harry about both ideas and why I couldn't choose.

"I really like the beach wedding." Harry said after a while. "The Scottish wedding is a really good idea but for me marrying in a castle doesn't cut if for me. After Hogwarts no castle will feel good to me. I can't imagine myself getting married in another castle than Hogwarts but I don't want to get married there because of all the bad memories that lay there as well."

"I never really thought about that." I admitted. "Now you say it, I feel the same way. I thought a castle would be really fairy-tale like but no castle hold against the magic of Hogwarts and because of what has happened there I can't imagine getting married there."

"So, beach wedding?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I think that would be most fitting."

"We will have to keep the location and date a secret. I don't want Rita or anyone else from the press finding out about it. Lee will get the scoop on the day self."

"We'll have to figure out how to do that. Maybe something with last minute invitations, or something like that." I nodded. Finally we were making plans together. "I have been reading about the best time and locations. I loved the idea of going to the Maldives but I don't think there is much to do there than sunbathing and being lazy."

"Sounds perfect to me." Harry said. "Why don't you like it?"

"Well, I would love to tie it into our honeymoon and I don't want to spend the whole honeymoon locked up in a hotel room."

"We could do the wedding at the Maldives, stay there for a few days locked up in a hotel room and travel from there." Harry pointed out. "Or did you have another idea?"

"There are so many ideas, the Caribbean, Mauritius, Indonesia, Micronesia. Too many to mention. I do like the idea of getting married somewhere and than travel somewhere else for our honeymoon. That would keep any press or dark wizard off our trail."

Harry nodded and flipped through the pages of the book in front of him. He opened it properly on the pages about weddings at the Maldives. I watched him as he looked through the pictures.

"I really like the look of this." He said after a while. He pointed at a villa style hotel build of wood and light walls. The rooms looked beautiful and the wedding suite was amazing. There was a beach specially designed to hold weddings in the open air. The pictures looked really nice.

"That looks so romantic." I breathed.

"Why don't I stop by the traveling agent tomorrow and see if he can contact that hotel and ask for information. I think we should know first if they can house us. When do you want to get married?" Harry asked.

"I don't really know. The book claims the best time weather wise there is February but Quidditch season will be in full swing then. Maybe just after the new year. It will leave us around six months to arrange everything."

"It would be really romantic to get married on New Years Eve." Harry mused.

"It would but what about our guests, some of them will want to be with their family and friends then."

"That's true." Harry nodded. "We have still time to think about it. Let's get additional information first."

"Okay, we'll figure this out further after your visit to the traveling agent. Maybe they can suggest a good time."

Harry nodded and closed the book.

"There was actually a reason I came home early today." He started.

"Oh."

"I received a letter from that friend from Linda, his real name is Lord Franklin and not Mr. Paddy as he has used in his letters. Patrick Franklin is his name. He is one of the few heads of an ancient and noble family that remains in our world. He has spent his life away from politics and the ministry by moving to the States. Smart man that…" Harry mused. "Anyway, he is back in London for a few weeks, especially for us. I was totally surprised as he stopped by the ministry this morning."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he just walked in. No appointment or anything. Arn almost threw him out." Harry chuckled. "Lord Franklin is a weird man but very smart. I offered him a room at Grimmauld place but he said he still had an old apartment in London so his is staying there."

"When will we meet him for our questions?"

"Tomorrow he is coming here. He wants to meet you first, before he starts working on figuring our connection out. He wants to see for himself how your mind is build up and what went wrong with that memory."

"What time will he be here?"

"With lunch." Harry sighed. "I won't be here then."

I suddenly realized why Harry didn't seem excited about it all. He didn't want me to be alone with this man. Maybe it was because of his worries about my mental stability towards strange man or maybe it was because the guy was really weird.

"Linda will probably want to be here." I suggested.

"No. He wants time alone with you. He says you need to be completely focused and any other presence will distract you."

I nodded and thought about it. I still had some issues with men in general, especially when they approached me but I could handle myself. Before the attack I wouldn't have thought twice about this. I would have met the man without a worry.

I wanted to be that person again.

"It's okay, Harry. I'll be okay."

"I really don't want you to go through this alone."

"I know but it's alright. I'm a big girl. I can handle it."

Harry smiled at me. I could see he wasn't completely convinced but he didn't say anything.

Deep with in me a fear made itself known. It echoed the fear I felt during the attack but I pushed it back where it came from. I would never let something like that happen to me again. I would use an unforgivable before that.


	66. Soul mates

_**I ask you all for forgiveness as it has taken me way too long to update. I have not been at a very good place mentally to write. It would have changed into a dark Harry and Ginny if I had done that. **_

_**For the last week or so I have been writing again and I deemed this chapter ready to upload. I got my writing grove back because I have already started on the next chapter.**_

_**I'm sorry if there are mistakes in the chapter. I did my best to keep them out. It's not a really exciting chapter but it will set up something for the future.**_

_**Please review.**_

* * *

**66. Soul-mates**

25th of July 2000.

By the time lunch time approached I was a nervous wreck. I had spend the morning in muggle London to shop for a birthday present for Harry and Neville. Normally shopping would help to keep the nerves at bay but not today.

I had woken up at five in the morning already quivering with nerves. Even with Harry telling me it would be alright the nerves never got better during the day. By half past eleven I apparated home without presents. I sighed as Drooble handed me a cup of tea to sooth my nerves.

It wasn't that I was afraid of this Patrick Franklin, no I could defend myself long enough for Harry to get here if something would happen. Drooble would stay with me and would immediately alert Harry if something were wrong.

No, I was afraid of what he would find. I was afraid to face memories again. I was afraid to open up to someone I didn't know. Especially a man I had never seen before. I just didn't like it.

At noon there came a knock on the door. Shaky I stood up and headed to the door.

"Hello Miss Weasley." An eccentric man said with a friendly voice. "I'm Lord Patrick Franklin, but please call me Patrick."

"Ginny Weasley." I said as I shook his hand. "Come in." I stepped away from the door and let him walk through. Patrick Franklin was indeed a strange man. He was dressed muggle style. Black jeans with cowboy boots on the lower half, a band t-shirt and a hoodie vest over it. He wore a grey goatee that was sharply pointed but was completely bald on his head. The only thing that showed me that he was a wizard was the name of the band on his shirt and the wand holster with wand on his hip.

"Please come into the living room, make yourself at home." I said as I lead him through the house.

"You have a lovely house here. So many stories go around about this house and what happened here."

"Yeah. That will never go away." I sighed as I sat down. "Lunch will be served in a few minutes…"

"That's alright. You look nervous Ginny. There is no need to be nervous."

"I can't help it." I moaned.

"Well, it's not necessary. I won't attack you, I doubt that I could win a duel as I can't cast a shield to safe my life and I sure won't make you do anything you don't want."

"That's easy to say but it doesn't help my condition. Harry said that a dozen times this morning. It's better just get it over with."

"That's a very good attitude. Just face it and deal with the consequences later." Patrick Franklin chuckled. "Then let us get to business. Linda informed me about a lot of interesting things. First that issue with your memory. Linda said something about it overtaking you. And then there is the interesting connection with Mr. Potter."

I nodded.

"Linda didn't write much about that, only that whatever it was that it was strong enough to get you out a complete mind meltdown." Patrick continued. "Today I just want to talk to you about that and about your relationship with Harry. You don't have to worry about me spilling personal information to reporters as I made an unbreakable vow that I'll use my knowledge only to do good and never abuse it."

"That's a risky vow."

"You might think so but for me it isn't. It just ensures that I'll not be tempted to go down the wrong road. It keeps me focused on my studies."

"What exactly are you studying?"

"The soul." Patrick answered with a smile. "It's a fascinating thing. So untouchable, so delicate and yet so strong and loving."

"Do you know about the Twin-soul theory?" I asked.

"I do." Patrick nodded. "I have studied twins for a long time but I never really got anywhere with it. My conclusion was that it was something that I would never really understand as I am not a twin. Why do you ask?"

"My brothers." I shrugged. "My brother Fred died during the final battle at Hogwarts. George, his twin was heart broken and barely functional. However Fred returned…"

"As a twin soul…" Patrick nodded. "Something more than a ghost, yet very similar."

"Yes."

"It's a very interesting thing, Miss Weasley, the soul I mean. It's one of the least studied part of magic, yet without it there would not have been magic."

"How so?" I asked curiously.

"Well, not many know this but the magical core is linked to your soul. If your soul is pure, your magical core is pure. If your soul is strong, your magical core is strong. If something happens to taint that soul it will damage the magical core." Patrick explained.

It became clear to me that this man loved his work and studies. He was really passionate about it. "If a witch or wizard commits a murder in cold blood he or she damages the soul. The mind and soul becomes unstable each time it's done. That's why so many inner circle Death Eaters were almost insane. What they didn't know was that with each murder their magical core became damaged as well. A damaged magical core can lead to volatile magic and uncontrollable magic. If the core or soul is damaged beyond repair the witch or wizard will most likely die."

"I never knew that the core and soul were so dependable of each other." I said slowly.

"Not many people know that."

"What do you mean with a pure soul and a pure core?" I asked.

Patrick laughed softly and took a sip of his tea.

"You have light, grey and dark wizards, right?" I nodded "A pure soul and core is often associated with the light fraction. Every child is born with pure soul, so every magical child starts as a light witch or wizard. At the birth the core is also always pure. Over the years kids grow up and their personality is formed. What you have to realize that the soul isn't your personality. A personality is formed by education, upbringing, experiences and family. However this personality can influence the purity of the soul and core. When due to experiences or other happenings the personality turn to the darkness the soul or core can be affected." He fell silent like he has explained it all. He was drinking his tea while I mulled over his words.

"Magic is all about intent." I mused.

"Exactly." He nodded calmly.

"So when the personality of that child is dark the intent behind the magic is dark… but how does that influence the soul and the core?"

"Every bit of magic you do influences the soul and the soul is what keep the magical core stable. Dark magic is magic with the intent to harm. Performing magic with the intent to harm will violate the purity of the soul and harms stability of the core." Patrick explained patiently. "Now even a light wizards sometimes kills. Like Mr. Potter he had to kill a dark lord. Normally murder in any form is the darkest of intent and should have damaged Mr. Potter's soul."

"But it didn't." I said.

"No it didn't. Mr. Potter's soul remains one of the purest I have ever seen because he regretted his actions. Even though he did it not with the intent to harm but to save he still felt massive amounts of regret for what he had to do. Regret and love are the only things that could heal a soul and stabilize the core."

I still didn't fully understand what he was explaining. I must have shown confusion because he sighed and shook his head.

"Maybe after a few meetings you'll understand but it's very confusing and difficult theory. Now lets move to why I am here."

The nervousness returned immediately but I nodded. Better get this over with.

"Your relationship to Harry, how did it start?"

It took us well through lunch as I explained my life and my love for Harry. I told him I always felt connected to Harry even as a small girl. I explained that after the battle that connection was much strong. Almost like a magical bond.

"What happened the first time that you felt the connect so strongly?"

"Nothing really." I shrugged. "I just looked at him and he met my eyes. I remember that I just knew at that point that he still loved me."

Patrick nodded and asked me to continue telling me about my relationship with Harry. I talked for an other hour before he interrupted me again.

"So the first time something odd happened was in the caves?"

"Yes."

"You said you made eye contact with Harry before it happened?"

"Yes, so far I remember it I looked up at him and when I met his eyes I was pulled into his memory."

"Could it have been accidental legimency?"

"That was what Harry thought as well but I have never even read about legimency. I wouldn't know who to do it."

"Well, as I explained before, magic is all about intent. If I look at it from my point of view I would say you really wanted to help Harry but couldn't as long as you didn't know how. You really wanted to see the memory that had him upset."

I nodded. "But won't that happen often? I mean I have heard my dad plead with my mom regularly to get her to speak her thoughts."

"You would think so but it doesn't happen often. You see Legimency is something only the powerful or really well trained can do. To do it accidentally needs an even bigger trigger." Patrick explained.

We fell silent for a few seconds before Patrick asked me to recall the drama with the memory during our Occlumency session. As I did he took more notes and nodded a few times. It seemed like he understood what I was saying.

It was draining and once I was finished retelling I felt utterly exhausted. Drooble popped in and handed me a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits.

"Is you okay, mistress Ginny?" The elf asked.

"Yes, I'm just really tired."

"You should take it easy, mistress Ginny. You still needs rest." The elf said sternly.

"I will in a bit." I promised.

Patrick nodded and well and placed his notebook back in his bag.

"Your elf is right. We have continued for long enough today. All I want to do is cast a few diagnostic spells to see if there is anything going on between you and Harry on a physical level. Magic is a weird thing and can create weird things."

Apparently my fear for him drawing his wand on me showed on my face because he suddenly gave a sad smile and sighed.

"I know you don't have any reasons to trust men at all. I know that me pulling my wand on you will cause you fear but I don't intent to harm you. I couldn't harm a gnome." He said calmly. "How about your elf staying with you so that when my promises prove false he can throw me out."

I found that idea reasonable and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for my reaction. I'm just not there yet with men I don't know personally. It's alright but I prefer Drooble to stay just for the sake of my sanity and your health." I agreed.

"Of course." Patrick said with a kind smile.

Not matter how kind the man at the other side of the wand was I still shuddered as I watched the tip of the wand being pointed at me. Drooble was standing next to me ready to defend. The look on his face was priceless as it showed the same warrior attitude that Kreacher had shown in the castle during the battle.

Patrick softly muttered the spells and I felt his magic tingle over my body but it didn't hurt.

"Interesting." Patrick muttered.

"What is interesting?" I asked after he put his wand away.

"I did find a few things with my scan but nothing that should worry you for now. They are all good things. I can't explain everything right now, I need to do more research before I can explain it so that it makes sense to both you and Harry."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry but you'll have to give me a few weeks to figure it all out."

"A few weeks?"

"Yeah, research can go as slow as a turtle. Maybe I have answers sooner." Patrick said with a smile. "I'll leave you now to recover from today, I'll be in contact soon."

"Thank you, Mr. Franklin." I nodded.

Drooble showed him out as I crashed onto the sofa.

The next two weeks I spend with Fleur and Hermione making small wedding plans. Dress shopping we had planned for the end of the summer when I was back in full shape but in the meantime we made other plans.

Harry and I had decided to have the wedding on an island close to French Polynesia. It was a magical only island and very secluded. The owner of the island's only resort was related to the Black family but never held to the pure-blood insanity like the rest of the family. He actually spoke highly of Sirius.

Having the wedding there meant that we could keep everything a secret. The island was heavily warded with ancient wards and was only accessible for the very rich as the owner asked a lot of money to ensure such a privacy. Harry, of course booked the whole resort for five days to ensure we had room for all our guests.

With Fleur and Hermione, I looked at flower arrangements, menu's, wedding cakes, guest lists and all those sorts of things.

In between mom and I also arranged a birthday party for Harry and Neville at the Summer house and invited everybody we knew for a surprise party. It was a great success. Harry and Neville were overwhelmed with gifts and kisses. The party lasted all night as we moved from Neville's birthday to Harry's.

For the first time since the final battle Drooble and Kreacher had allowed fanmail to reach Harry and he was buried under a massive pile of gifts and letters.

It was funny and we all had a great time reading them and unwrapping the gifts. Being noble as ever Harry decided to give all the gifts he got from his worshippers to St. Mungo's childcare department and the magical orphanage.

Between the wedding plans. Birthday parties and training for the next Quidditch season I totally forgot about my session with Patrick Franklin. It wasn't until two days before my birthday that we received a letter from him asking us to meet with him the next day.

The meeting with Patrick proved most interesting.

"I'll come straight to the point." Patrick said excitingly as he sat down at our dining table. "You two are most interesting to research. You, Mr. Potter are a soul-researchers dream. With the horcrux, the purity of your soul and your connection with Miss Weasley makes me almost want to take you with me and lock you up in a research centre."

Harry chuckled at this.

"I guess you found a lot of interesting things." He asked Patrick.

"Enough to keep me studying for the next two years or so." Patrick said happily. "But don't worry, I'll just ask you for a bit more data today and than I'll be out of your hair for a good while."

"What did you find?"

Patrick sat back and thought for a second. Apparently he had difficulties figuring out where to start.

"What do you two know about real soul mates? Not the mushy lovely teenager claiming her boyfriend is her soul mate but true magical soul mates." Patrick asked.

Harry and I looked at each other for a second but neither understood what he was talking about.

"Nothing." I said and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Okay, it's an advanced study that has been started by the Unspeakables a few years before the first blood war. Back than the ministry was interested in bonds between people. They wanted to see if a bond between two people influenced the strength and power of that persons magical core."

Both Harry and I could understand it so far.

"Their theory was that if the bond influenced the core, they could match pure-blood children to other pure-blood with whom they have the strongest bond. The ministries theory was that, that bonding would result in more powerful children."

"That's awful!" I yelped.

"In the aspect of free will it is but even you know that in the pure-blood society free will in choosing your partner is not something that is considered. It's all about alliances and money." Patrick countered and I had to agree. He was telling the cold truth. "Anyway, the research the Unspeakables did turned up some very interesting results. For once they found out that when there is true love between two people their magic changes to come more compatible with the other's magic. For most people it seems to be that they grow to be complete opposites so that they can supply each other."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well, lets say that your magic is more suitable for defence and transfiguration, Miss Weasley's magic will adept itself to become more suitable for the opposite magics like curses, hexes and charms. But your core adepts also to suite her needs. Or in other words where her magic is less yours will grow. But that is only when there is true love between two people and it won't happen in one day, it will take years for your magic to adept to each other."

"You can realize that after a few years if the bond is based on true love the love-birds will magically become stronger as a pair."

"But not their children?" I asked.

"No, their magical core won't be affected by that bond." Patrick said. "And then the Unspeakables found out something else. Something stronger than true love. They found two real magical soul-mates."

"True soul-mates have a bond that goes beyond love, magic and even death. Their souls are always linked to each other from the day they are born till the after-life and even longer then that. Research into the soul-mate bond is very minimal so I can't explain everything to you but so far we know that the bond grows with age. Once the two acknowledge the bond it will grow until they reach old age." Patrick explained.

"The bond between soul-mates is similar to that of a true love in the case of how both cores grow to support each other but because it's such a strong bond the magical core forms a bond as well." Patrick continued. "I can't explain yet why or how it happens but when two give in to the soul-mate bond the magical core of both people bond as well."

Harry and I both gasped. We both had heard of theories about cores being linked. It could be a blessing as it could be a curse.

"Ginny, the diagnostic scans I did on you showed me that your core is very strongly linked to Harry's core. That's when I realized that you two could be true soul-mates. The second scan I did also showed a connection on a higher level that is even stronger than the core-bond. It's the bond between true soul-mates."

A silence fell as we both tried to process this. Of course theories about soul-mate bonding we knew but I don't think Harry or I ever really considered it to be the cause of our weird connection.

"What does all this means for us?" Harry asked.

"In general nothing bad. As your connection is already so strong I think that in the future you two will find reading each other's thoughts more easily. Like what happened in the caves on your holiday and with Ginny. The connection will grow stronger. I know Linda has taught you both Occlumency so you will be able to protect thought you don't want the other to see but expect that to become more often. Also through the bond you both will probably started to feel more connected magically. So when Harry is fighting a massive duel it might drain Ginny a bit because her magic supports him."

"Won't that be an issue when we are both in a battle? I mean it could be a liability in a duel."

"No, the draining will be minimal and Ginny's core is big enough to support that. As is yours to support her. It would have been an issue if one of you was much younger. Developing cores won't be able to handle it. The only bad side of a soul-mate bond is the fact of one dying."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You both know what happens when there is a magical core bond severed, right?"

"The cores become unstable and the person is likely to die within a short time frame." Harry answered.

"Yes, with a soul-mate bond it's the same only less dramatic. I can't sadly say that it's less painful. I was the unfortunate witness of such an event. The woman died during a magical explosion while testing a new potion. Her husband felt her die, which was painful enough but after that he withered. The couple was still young and the man's body wanted to continue but his heart was too broken. I don't know if he died from a broken heart, a shattered soul or that his magical core drained too quickly because it had gotten unstable but it wasn't pretty. He lived for about a month after his wife died but it was a month of pain for him."

I sighed. It sounded like a muggle love story. Next to me Harry looked in deep thoughts.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"I was trying to remember when we really gave into this connection we have. If it was the first time we got together then I guess you would have felt Tom hitting me with the killing curse in the forest."

"I didn't." I said as I shook my head.

"Then the bond hadn't completely formed yet." Patrick said.

"Will she feel it when I'm hit by a curse?" Harry suddenly asked.

"I don't know. Not yet I think but in time it might be." Patrick said. "I just don't know enough about these types of bonds to tell you for sure."

Harry and I nodded.

"I would like to do a few more test to get more data. I'll continue researching this for a new project after I finish the one I was working on before I came here. Maybe in a few years time we will be able to tell more about it." Patrick said.

We agreed and sat calmly as Patrick waved his wand. He made tons of notes we didn't understand. After fifteen minute Patrick said goodbye and left us to our thoughts.

While Drooble busied himself with cleaning up the room and getting dinner ready Harry and I sat in the living room in silence. It was a lot to process. Not everything that Patrick had told us made sense. Something were downright difficult to understand but I felt that we had to trust the expert on it. Even when he himself admitted not to know enough already.

After a while Harry turned to me with a worried look in his eyes. I quickly kissed him before he could say what was bothering him.

"Shhh." I whispered. "there is nothing we can do about the possibility of what Patrick described. Just make sure neither of us dies before old age."

Harry nodded and leaned in for another kiss.

"You are right. This should be something good. We shouldn't worry about things we can't control."

"No, let us worry about our wedding and our jobs. That is enough for now." I sighed.


	67. Drama in white

_**I'm back! It took a while as I am working on too many things all at once. My energy low and my head jumbled with tons of ideas caused a writers block...**_

_**I want to reply on one comment in the reviews before starting off the new chapter.: Yes, I choose for the soul-mate bonding between Harry and Ginny but it won't be a big part of the story. It will help me through some scenes that are stuck in my head and need to be put on paper. I haven't read any Harry/Ginny fic in ages so I can't claim I read the idea else where. To be honest I only read Hermione/Harry and Ginny/Draco smut at the moment...**_

_**So anyway here is the new chapter... I have barely edited to am hoping the typing errors are minimal. let me know if they are too annoying I'll take the time to edit it later.**_

_**I hope you all will enjoy it...**_

* * *

**67. Drama in white.**

13th of September 2000.

"Come on love. You need to get up." Harry called as he shook me softly.

"Don't want too." I moaned. I was still tired and sore from the gruel training Gwen put me through yesterday. Ever since the healer declared me healthy again Gwen tortured me. It was clear that this year she wanted to win the cup.

"The others will be here within an hour. I don't think that you want to be in bed when they arrive." Harry argued.

"I'm sore. My muscles hurt." I groaned as I tried to move.

"I'll leave a relaxant potion on the table but I really need to go." Harry said as he bent down to kiss me. I met his lips and all thoughts of pain disappeared.

"This is better then any potion." I muttered against his lips.

Harry chuckled and kissed me more deeply.

"Sadly I can't kiss you the whole day." Harry said as he pulled away. "There are still tons of Dark Lord wannabe's out there."

I sighed and fell back onto the bed.

"I know, I'll get up. You go to work." I said.

"I won't be home late today." Harry said as he walked out of the room.

With a groan I got up and took a long shower. Today was my day off to go dress-shopping with Fleur, Luna, Ange, Hermione and my mom. We had an appointment at a muggle shop called London Bride Couture and at the Witches Wedding's Brew.

For the style of the wedding I wasn't sure I could find anything in the magical world as it was all very traditional so Hermione had arranged to go to a muggle boutique as well.

I was just finishing my breakfast when the whole family arrived.

"Ready for the big day?" Mom asked excitedly.

"Yeah." I sighed.

"What's wrong?" Fleur asked.

"Nothing, I'm just sore all over from Gwen's torture from yesterday."

"You'll forget your pain soon enough." Hermione said.

"I hope so."

Ten minutes later we walked into the shop at a side street of Diagon Alley. Of course press and photographers were darting around trying to get a good shot of us but the shop owner quickly casted a privacy charm on the windows.

"Thanks." I sighed.

"No worries. I expected them to be like that. Some of them have been visiting daily since the announcement of your engagement." The shop owner said with a friendly smile. "I'm Helen, the owner here. This consult stays secret. I have made a witches oath to keep my clients privacy."

"That's nice to know." I nodded. Helen took me aside from the family to talk about the dress I wanted.

"hmmm. Now, in your letter you said you had specific wishes to what your look should be during the wedding and that you were afraid that we were too conservative for that look."

"Yes, we are having a beach wedding, not in a church, castle or family home but a nice sunny beach. I know in the wizarding world that's very uncommon and that most brides where traditional big dresses but I don't want that. I want something elegant but fit for a beach party."

"Do you have pictures of your ideas with you?"

"Yes but they are all from a muggle magazine. I don't know if you have anything like that."

I gave her a few cut-outs from a magazine. She took a while to look at them and hummed a tune.

"Hmm… I think I have some dresses that would fit the style you have in mind." She said after a few minutes. "Now, please make yourself comfortable, you can ask the staff –elves for something to drink while I go looking for these dresses I have in mind. I'll be back in ten minutes."

A silence fell and we all sat down at the table Helen had pointed too. After a while it was mum who broke the silence.

"Ginny? Why didn't you go for a more traditional wedding?" She asked carefully. Mum had come a long way with not pressing her opinion onto people. She still had a hard time with her old values and present day standards but she wasn't as forceful as she used to be. These days her opinions were always good advice and she didn't fight it when I turned it down.

"Harry and I are anything but traditional, mum. It wouldn't have fitted us at all." I answered.

"What kind of wedding are you having anyway? We all know you had a few ideas but you never told us what you and Harry had decided on." Hermione asked.

"Well, we had three options. One of them wasn't a possibility because of the lack of privacy. The other was because Harry didn't want it so it became the last option."

"So a beach wedding." Luna stated.

I gasped at her in shock. "How did you know?"

"Easy, the Burrow can't provide the privacy you need. Half England's magical world will notice the organisation of that. So that one is out. Now, if I know Harry as good as I think I know him, he doesn't want to have a wedding at a castle or mansion. He has too many bad memories of those. And I heard a rumour about you wanting to have a wedding at sunset."

"She is good." I sighed and the others laughed.

"So, a beach wedding, right?" Mom asked. "Where?"

"Yes, a beach wedding and where you'll see on the invitations soon." I said with a smirk.

"But, Ginny, what about our dresses? We need time to buy those as well." Fleur said. "We'll need to know for what type of weather we have to get a dress."

"Don't worry about your dresses. I have already ordered all bridesmaid's dresses."

A loud squeal rang through the room as the four girls launched themselves at me. The sprouted thousand of questions about the dresses.

"Easy!" I yelled. "Now, Hermione's dress will be light green. As she will be my maid of honour." Again a loud squeal and more hugs. "And the dresses for Fleur, Ange and Luna will be a darker green. That's all I'm going to say for now."

"What kind of design?" Fleur asked.

"You'll see. The first fitting will be tomorrow evening at the Burrow."

Mom knew about the dresses for the girls. We had picked them out together while looking at other clothes during a shopping spree here at Diagon Alley. Though I was happy that she had kept it a secret for almost two weeks.

After a few minutes of trying to pull more information from me a silence fell as we waited for Helen to come back with wedding dresses. I wondered how they would look on me. I loved helping Hermione pick out her wedding dress but I never could imagine myself wearing one.

I had an idea in my head of what my wedding would look like. I could draw out Harry's look to the finest detail and I could imagine how the rest of the wedding party would look but I never saw myself. I didn't even know if I wanted a traditional white dress or if I wanted some colour in it.

The flowers were already picked out. I selected table arrangements with white red and green. White lilies, red roses and dark green leafs. All tied together with Gryffindor gold. I had wondered if it would be an idea to incorporate the gold into the dress but I couldn't imagine it.

"What are you thinking?" Fleur asked.

"About the dress." I sighed. "I wondered if I could incorporate the colours into it."

"The gold will be easy." Fleur said happily. Fleur had helped me with the arrangements when it became too overwhelming for me to decide on colour schemes. She was the only one who know the complete picture besides the location. "The green and the red might be more difficult."

"I have been wondering about wearing a completely different colour than white." I admitted. "I saw a picture of a bride in a dark blue dress with white incorporated. It was a stunning dress. Maybe I could wear something like that in Emerald."

"It's your wedding, you should wear white." Hermione said. "It's the only time you can wear white."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, of course you can wear white to a party in the summer but to be honest normally people don't. White gets dirty to quickly at a cocktail party. Common standard is that you are not allowed to wear white to somebody's wedding and seriously you won't voluntarily wear white to any other formal party." Hermione explained.

I nodded but still considered asking for coloured dresses, just to see how it would look.

Finally Helen showed up.

"Miss Weasley, please follow me to the dressing rooms. I'll help you into the dress and then you can show them to your family and friends." She said.

"Now, I have picked a few dresses that looked a bit like the pictures you have shown me. I have the impression that it will be a summer wedding from the pictures so I have taken the liberty to select a few that I thought would match that idea."

"It won't be a summer time wedding but we will have an exotic beach wedding." I explained.

"I understand. Far away from prying eyes." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, that's a big plus but it's more because I really love that idea. It was that or a castle style wedding but Harry didn't want to do that. To many bad memories."

"I understand." Helen said as she led me into the dressing room. "Have a look and let me know which one you want to try on first."

Six dresses hung on the wall. All six looked fitting for the theme. All of them were completely white which I expected but still made me wonder about the colour.

One of the dresses stood out and I pointed to that one for Helen to try on first. As she helped me into it I turned my back to the mirror. Suddenly I was deadly afraid of looking at myself in a wedding dress.

"Your first dress?" Helen asked as she looked up at me.

"Yes." I whispered.

"Well, you look stunning in it. Here is a pair of heels to make the look complete."

"Heels won't work at the beach. I prefer slippers." I whispered.

"I'll get those for you, in the meantime you can get used to yourself in a wedding dress." She said with a smile.

I glanced down at the white gown clinging to me body. It was tightly fitted at the top and flowed out from the waist. The fabric was very light and really fitted the beach feel. All over my body there was intricate broidery and beading.

Slowly I turned around to look in the mirror. I don't know why it all hit me but I was afraid I wouldn't look the part of the fairy-tale princess I left like. Marrying Harry was my childhood fairy tale. Being with Harry was already more dream like than I had ever imagined but now getting married to him… I just wasn't sure if I could look good enough and dream like enough to live up to my childhood dreams.

With a deep breath I looked up.

For what felt like a long time I couldn't think, or breath for that matter.

I didn't know what to feel, crying, screaming, laughing or maybe run away. Anyway neither of my reactions were very positive. I didn't even look pretty in this dress. I looked short, fat and frumpy.

Hermione had looked elegant in every dress she tried on. Fleur had looked stunning in her way too beautiful dress and I? I look like my mom on laundry day!

"And? What do you think?" Helen asked when she walked back into the room.

I turned around and looked at her. I was sure she could see the desperation in my eyes.

"You look lovely, Ginny." She said fiercely. I shook my head and let a tear fall. "Nonsense, you really look beautiful."

"No." I croaked.

Helen smiled and turned me around to the look in the mirror.

"This dress looks perfect on you. Your figure is stunning in it. The A-line fit is really fitting for you." She said as she pointed out the special points of the dress but I couldn't see it. This wasn't the princess look I imagined.

I don't know why all the sudden I wanted to look and feel like a princess. I couldn't for all the gold explain why that childhood fantasy returned. I felt utterly confused by it. Just before we walked into the shop I was still considering ditching the whole thing and getting married in bikini.

"I just feel ugly in this." I sighed.

"Okay, then. Let's try another one. You'll feel it when you find the dress." Helen said encouragingly.

I nodded sadly and tried on another dress. Actually I tried on three dresses before I found one that I liked enough to show my family.

I took a few deep breaths, cleaned my face off a bit and stepped out of the changing room.

I was met with many oooh's and aaah's from my family. I think I managed a smile.

"Oooh Gin, that looks stunning." My mom whispered. Tears were already falling down her cheeks. All the others agreed and Helen turned me to face another insanely large mirror.

The dress I was wearing was a beautiful dress, it had beading and lace all around it. The top half was tightly fitted and from the waist down it flowed away from the body. It wasn't anything I imagined wearing at a beach wedding. Too traditional maybe.

Anyway I didn't feel pretty in it.

"What do you think, Ginny?" Angelina asked.

"I…I really don't like how I look in it." I muttered.

"What's wrong with it, dear?" Mom asked.

"Nothing." I sighed. "It's just not my dress. I don't feel pretty in it."

"Well, my mother always said that you would know immediately if the dress was meant for you or not." Fleur said encouragingly. "You just have to try on more dresses."

I didn't tell her that I had already discarded quite a few dresses. I sighed and walked back to the dressing room.

"Why don't you try that one on and I'll see if I can find two or three dresses that might fit your theme more." Helen said as she helped me out of the dress.

I nodded and tried the last dress of her pick.

It was indeed a beautiful dress, it was made of silk and was very simple. Only the top area was worked on and held a very beautiful pattern of broidery.

When Helen came back she helped me close the zipper and walked with me to my family.

"That's looking so great on your body." Hermione sighed. "Harry will have heart attack."

"Yeah, you might want to pick something else." Luna nodded. "We can't have our hero die because you look so great."

I giggled and turned to the mirror. I did feel a lot better in this dress but when I looked at myself in the mirror I fell back into my depression.

_How could you feel so good and look so ugly at the same time!_!

"What's wrong, Ginny?" I heard Fleur asking.

"Nothing." I sighed. "I just don't like how it looks. I can't imagine me wearing this on the day."

I noticed in the mirror that Fleur and Hermione exchanged worried looks but I didn't comment on it. Instead I walked back to the dressing room and tried on the three other selections.

I showed all three of them to the family but non felt right. Dejected and depressed I realized that we had to hurry to meet our appointment time at the muggle wedding dress shop.

"I'm sorry Helen. I just can't seem to find the dress that makes me feel good." I sighed as I pulled on my jeans again.

"You are expecting too much from yourself. You are not enjoying yourself enough to really see what others see. I don't know if I have the right dress for you but you won't find that dress anywhere unless you let go of expectations that are too high or to fairy-tale like. As a witch you should realize that fair tales very rarely really exist."

I nodded and left her shop.

We were swamped by reporters again and needed help from an on patrol duty auror to get us to the leaky cauldron and out in muggle London.

Muggle London made a change for me. Here I was free of expectations. Only my own very high ones still stood.

"Ginny are you alright?" Hermione asked as she walked next to me.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." She countered.

I just shrugged.

"What is bothering you?"

"Nothing, really."

"Oh, come on Ginny, you should know better than to lie to me. You are absolutely the worst in that!" Hermione argued again. "Now what was wrong in that dress shop? The dresses you showed us were all so stunning on you. I was almost green with jealousy knowing that in the years to come everybody will gush over your pictures when mine will be laughed at. The pudgy bushy haired bride."

"Pudgy?" I almost yelled. "Dammit, Hermione, you looked absolutely beautiful on your wedding. You were so elegant, dream like."

"I guess you weren't at the same wedding I was." Hermione grimaced.

"Don't be ridiculous. You looked like a muggle fairy tale princess. I will probably look like mum on laundry day." I growled.

Everybody stopped in their tracks and turned to me with shocked eyes.

"What? It's not like I'm going to look like a princess on my wedding. With a bit of luck I can look nice enough for Harry to even look at me." I sighed and continued on walking.

"Ginny!" Mom yelled at me. "You stop there right this second!"

"What?" I yelled in frustration.

"How can you even think like that?" She asked. "What has gotten in your head that you think you aren't absolutely stunning in anyone of those dresses?"

"Nothing, it's just not living up to my expectations. I don't feel like the fairy tale princess I always imagined myself. Especially since I'm living that fairy tale life I shout demand to look the part from myself, right?"

Besides Fleur they all looked shocked. I noticed Fleur had her eyes closes and shook her head.

"Walk with me." She whispered as she placed her hand on my shoulder and steered me in the direction of the dress shop.

"Ginny, I understand you." She started carefully.

"I really doubt that, Fleur. You looked absolutely stunning on your wedding."

"But I didn't feel stunning. Merlin, I didn't even feel a little pretty at first. It took all of your mother's convincing skills to make me see differently."

"I don't believe that. You would look stunning in a garbage bag."

"Ever since my mother explained what a Veela is I knew I had to live up to certain expectations. I was six when she first explained it and I started to dream about my future. Surely somebody who would grow as pretty as me would get a beautiful husband. She would be looked upon with awe. I'm sure you remember the cow I was before I met Bill but I was really trying to live up to the expectations of my childhood dream. When I met Bill I learned that beauty wasn't all that important and that your heart was much more important." Fleur chuckled before she continued. "Bill and I had many arguments before we started to date. I fell for him immediately, stunning as he is but he only saw the idiotic cow I was. It took me quite a bit of time to understand that my character wasn't all that attractive." Fleur laughed.

"Anyway, I'd like to think that I grew as a person while Bill and I dated. I liked the new me and realized I was still living my dream only better. I'm sure you understand?"

"Yes."

"When the day came to pick out a dress for the wedding my childhood dreams came crashing back on me. No matter which dress I tried nothing was good enough to face my prince in. I never felt more ugly."

"I still can't imagine that." I sighed.

"I did. I really couldn't look in the mirror. It took your mom, my mom and Gabriella hours to convince me to let go of that dream and look at the moment I was in… I was going to marry my strong brave beautiful man. A man that adored me, challenged me and loved me for who I was and not how I looked. Everything else didn't matter."

The door to the shop was opened for us and we walked into a beautiful reception area.

"Honestly Ginny. I know for a fact Harry adores you as much as Bill adores me. I also know for a fact that he doesn't care what you look like as long as you are willing to marry him. All that he cares about is that you are happy."

I nodded and turned to the coming sales lady. In my head I was repeating Fleur's words. As long as I was happy. I sure wasn't happy now. I wasn't happy with how I looked compared to my dream ideal. When would I be happy?

"Hello, is this the Weasley party?"

"Yes, ma'am." I nodded.

"Oh that's so wonderful. I am Elisabeth, I'll be your consultant today. You must be the bride?" She said to me.

"I am." I nodded and held out my hand. "I'm Ginny. These are my sisters in law and future sisters in law and my mother."

"Welcome everybody to London Bride Couture. Please follow me to the consulting area."

We were lead to the back of the shop into a wide open area with large chairs and sofa's, massive mirrors and tons of wedding dresses. Everything was very pretty and totally focused on females.

"Okay, now tell me a bit about your fiancé?" Elisabeth asked when we were all seated.

"Oh, well, my fiancé's name is Harry. He has been my dream man since the day I met him. I was ten back then." I sighed.

"How did you two end up together?"

I needed a second to think up a muggle explanation.

"Well, Harry is the best friend of Hermione here. She is my brother's wife. We all met in boarding school. Harry and I started dating when I was fifteen but circumstances kept us apart for a year. After seeing each other again we just picked up where we left."

"That's beautiful. And now you are getting married." She said with a huge smile. "Tell me about your wedding day?"

"Well, we are having a beach wedding somewhere warm. So not in Cornwall. It will be a small group of friends and family. The whole feel will be beach style, barbeque foods, beautiful flowers."

"Any colour themes?"

"Yes, white, red, green and all accentuated with gold."

"And what will Harry wear?"

"I told him to get something light and not a full costume but he very rarely listens to me. He is going shopping with the men next week."

"Okay, so a beach wedding. Guessing you are here you won't want to wear a bikini. Do you have anything in mind that you would like to try on?"

"I brought some cut-outs from magazines of the styles I like but I would like some input as well. Just recently I thought it might be all easier just to go in bikini and flip-flops."

She nodded and looked through the cuts I handed her.

"Alright, most of these dresses I've got in the store. So that won't be an issue, the only thing is your budget. Is there a price you like to keep under?"

"I don't have a limit on the budget." I sighed.

I really wasn't used to having lots of money yet but Harry told me that it didn't matter. He claimed that from his family vault alone we could live happily for the rest of our lives. So I trusted him when he said I could spend a million muggle pounds on a dress and not make a dent in the vault.

"Okay, why don't you follow me to the dressing room. The rest of the family please wait here. Have a look around. If you see a dress you think she should try on let me know."

Fifteen minutes later I was trying on my first dress. It was beautiful. I felt beautiful in it as well. It was all natural and flowing along my body. Everything was accentuated with little flowers. Only the cups were structured but the rest was very loose.

"I like it." I sighed.

"Good, do you want to wear heals or flats?"

"Something flat. Maybe I'll go barefooted, I don't know yet."

I fitted on some flats and walked out.

"That is so good, Ginny." Angelina sighed.

I turned to look in the mirror and nodded. Yes, this was indeed a very good dress. I felt so much better in this than in the other dresses.

"Do you feel pretty in it?" Fleur asked.

"Yeah, I do." I said with the first honest smile of the day. "Though I don't think I like how it flows from here." I pointed to the lines below my dress. It was a stunning dress but it felt like it was meant to cover up a belly.

All nodded and it was back into the dressing room. The next two dresses were all shot down. Also was Fleur's pick from the dresses in the reception room. I was about to give up when Luna pulled me aside and pointed towards a dress in the far end of the room.

"Why don't you try that one on. It has that beach look down to a teeth." She said.

I walked over to the dress with Elizabeth in tow.

"That dress is really expensive. It was made by one of the top dress designers in Italy. Many of my brides can't afford it but I keep an example here to show people the designer's style." She explained.

It was a really stunning dress. It looked like it was made of silk ribbons. It had open spaces to show skin on the stomach and back. It had a split that was just high enough to look cheap but somehow the dress just showed class. The beading and embroidery were something on a complete other level. Magic almost.

"I want to try it on." I nodded.

"The price tag is twenty-nine thousand pounds." She said hesitant.

"It's okay." I sighed. I could hear Harry already ranting about not spending money to make myself happy. He wouldn't let me live if he heard I turned down a dress because of money.

The excitement of such a large sale was clearly visible in Elizabeth's eyes as she took the dress of its hanger and slid it over my head.

"Now, if this isn't completely what you are looking for I have a few dresses from the same designer in the back. I keep them apart for special requests. "I nodded and watched in the mirror as she closed the buttons on the dress.

This dress was really something else. It just fitted my body. It made me look amazing and it was edgy.

"I really like this." I breathed.

"It looks stunning on you."

I looked closer at myself in the mirror. The dress was tightly fitted around my upper body. The straps of silk came together on my left shoulder and disappeared to the back where it was stitched to the backside somewhere around my waist. In the front the fabric covered my breast and small parts of my stomach. The silk straps seem to grow out of the skirt that just hung on my hips and flowed down to the floor.

The straps and the top of the skirt were all worked with little flowers and what looked like little diamonds. The bottom half was worked with small bits of lace to make it look organic.

"Wow." I sighed. This made me feel stunning.

"You can say that. Now if you think you show too much skin or if you don't like the skirt I have two similar options that have those things a bit different."

"Okay, let's show this one first to the family."

There was utter silence when I reached my family. I couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing but I could have heard the crickets chirping at the Burrow with the silence that hung in the air.

"Well, what do you think?" Elizabeth asked completely oblivious to the awkward silence.

"Wow." Angelina whispered.

"Yeah." Luna breathed.

Hermione just nodded and Fleur looked like she was in tears. I turned my eyes at my mother.

Suddenly I feared her reaction. I really liked the dress. I wanted to see the other one with the different skirt but I loved this style and knew it would be this dress if not the other. But I also knew it wasn't anything my mom imagined me in. It showed a lot of skin and was very sexy for a wedding.

"Mom?" I asked. She started to sob.

"You… you…you look…stunning." She sobbed.

I warmth spread over me. I turned back to the mirror and looked at myself again. Slowly I started to see it all. The wedding, me walking down the beach towards Harry, me in this dress, a veil hiding my eyes, my dad giving me to Harry. This dress twirling around on the dance floor with bare feet underneath it.

"Do you still need to see the other dress? I can show you the designer's book first."

I just nodded.

"Oh, Ginny, you look so pretty in this dress." Mom sobbed and threw her arms around me.

"Thanks mom." I said carefully. I still wasn't sure of her reaction. Was she really liking this dress? Was she just overwhelmed with the whole experience?

"I… I know this dress isn't what I imagined you to wear…" She sobbed. "But it makes you look so pretty. It's almost magic."

"Yeah." Hermione said softly as she got her turn to hug me. "If this wasn't a muggle store I would have sworn this dress was made by magic. You look stunning."

"Poor Harry won't stand a change." Ange sighed.

"I knew you would find something fitting." Fleur said happily. "You are a vision!"

I think by the time Luna came over I was blushing so much my face had the same colour as my hair.

"A magical wedding dress... on a magical princess. So fitting." She said with a smile. I felt my face heating again right at the moment Hermione snapped a picture with an muggle camera.

"Moine!" I moaned.

"Hey, this is a day to remember. I have been taking pictures on the sneaky side of every dress you tried on. It will be fun to go over once you are old and grey." She said with a laugh.

Elizabeth returned with a large book in her hand and placed it on the table

"This is the catalogues of the designer. He is from Italy and makes amazing dresses."

We all poured over the table and looked at the collection. The more we saw the more I loved the designer but non of the dresses stood out like the one I was wearing. Many really did look magical, some of them I was sure could only be held up with magic but than Elizabeth explained about two-sides tap. Muggle magic.

Half an hour later I was back in front of the mirror. The same dress still on. Added were a veil and jewellery that matched the dress beautifully.

"These jewels are also designed by the designer of the dress. They were made to belong together but I would understand if you find it too expensive. The dress alone is expensive enough."

"How much for the veil and the tiara?" I asked as I like those a lot. I was pretty sure I could find something in the Potter vault that would be just as pretty as the necklace and earrings I was wearing now.

"They cost an additional four thousand pounds." She sighed.

"I'll take them… and the dress."

For Elizabeth it looked like Christmas had come early. She was actually crying as she worked out the paper work for the sale. I quickly gave her the numbers of my muggle credit card and signed the deal.

A minute later the dress was taken off and two ladies started to take measurements of my body so that the dress would fit like a glove by the time they adjusted it. I could have just let Hermione do her magic on it while I had it on but apparently the designer insisted to do all alterations himself.

"You need to come back for your first fitting at the end of the month. That will give us enough time to make alterations if needed." One of the ladies told me. "Try not to loose too much weight before your wedding. You are already perfect. Don't go messing it up in a wedding insanity."

I just nodded.

"The designer himself will be at the fitting so he can see if it looks as it should."

"Okay." I said with a nervous tone.

"Don't worry about it, he does that with every dress he sells."

When I was done I made an appointment for the fitting and walked back to the family. They were still looking in the catalogue. From what I heard they were picking out Luna's and Ange's wedding dress.

I turned to Elizabeth as a question popped in my head.

"What's the name of the designer? I can't remember if you told me."

"Edward Zabini." She sighed. "He is an amazingly handsome Italian man. He says he has family here in the UK."

"Zabini!" I gasped and noticed all heads of my family snap up.

"Yes, Edward Zabini."


	68. 68 Finalizing plans

_**Finally another update. It's not a really exciting chapter, just filling the gap between the summer and the wedding. A bit of every day Harry and Ginny.**_

_**Now I need your help, please let me know through PM or Review if you would like me to do a whole chapter on the Honeymoon and the Hen-party. Or do a huge chapter on the wedding and continue with the lives of Harry and Ginny (Including a bit of the honeymoon.)**_

_**I hope I can keep up this writing pace, that way I could update more regularly.**_

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**68. Finalizing plans**

Harry wasn't home yet so it left me with more time to worry and ponder.

How was is possible that I have managed to find a wedding dress in a muggle store that was made by family of one of our Slytherin classmates? These things could only happen to me. I shook my head sadly.

Hermione, Luna and Fleur had advised me to tell Harry immediately. It would prevent issues later on if something would happen. The fact that the designer would personally meet anyone who would buy his dresses during the first and last fitting was an indication that issues could arise. I was pretty sure that Mr. Zabini would recognize me and my name in a heart beat. Even outside the UK Harry was well known.

Mom and Ange weren't so sure. Mom seemed to remember that the Zabini's hadn't been in the service of Voldemort. And to be honest I couldn't remember Blaise being a support of Voldemort either.

Sure he was a Slytherin and by default looked at as a dark wizard but I couldn't remember him to be like that.

"Ginny!" I heard Harry call from the hallway.

"In the kitchen!"

I took a deep breath and tried to relax. Telling Harry about the dress and it's designer wasn't something I looked forward too. I wasn't sure how he would react. While he was dealing with everything really well, Death Eaters and Pure-blood supremacy was still a very touchy subject with Harry.

"Hey, did you have fun today?" He asked as he kissed me a welcome home kiss.

"It was okay." I shrugged.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good. You went dress shopping. What I know about it is that it's supposed to be fun. What happened?" Harry asked as he looked a bit more closely at me.

I just shrugged and sat down at the table. Drooble immediately appeared with two bowls of hot chicken soup and slices of bread.

"Thanks Drooble." Harry said and took a slice of bread. "So what happened? Didn't you find a dress?"

"I did actually." I said with a smile. Besides that designer issue I was really in love with the dress. "It's beautiful and it looks made for my body."

"So that's good." Harry nodded. "Any color I should take into account when I go out to buy a suit?"

"No not really. It fits within the color idea we had but the dress is mainly white." I answered. "I also bought matching jewelry and shoes."

"Oh, than I don't have to get you that as a gift. I need to think of something else then." He muttered before looking up again. "So what happened that made the day less fun?"

I sighed and looked up at him. His face held a honest curiosity.

"Two things actually."

"Oh…" Harry said and took one of my hands while he continued eating with the other.

"I bought the dress at a muggle store." I started slowly. "We went to the magical story first but I just couldn't get my mind right for it."

"Was something bothering you?" Harry asked when I didn't continue.

"Yeah, something stupid actually."

"Something you care to share?" Harry asked. I chuckled, wondering how he would react to my silly childhood fantasies and ideas.

"It's silly actually." I said with a smile. I could smile about it now but that morning it had been so real and upsetting. "You remember quite painfully how I had a crush on you when I was little?"

Harry nodded.

"Well I used to dream about marrying you. At night after my mom told me bedtime stories about the great hero Harry Potter, I would dream we would fall in love and get married. You would come in like a prince and sweep me away to your castle to have this fairy-tale like wedding. I guess I read too many muggle fairy-tales." I said with a chuckle. It was funny to see Harry being half shocked half amused. "Anyway, after I got over my crush I thought I had let go of the idea of having this fairy-tale wedding with you. Real life turned out to be so much better than I had ever imagined. So I never thought of my childish dreams anymore. Until today…" I sighed and shook my head. Drooble quietly served us a large salad with steak.

"When I tried on all these dressed I didn't see the beautiful princess I had imagined myself to be. No dress made me look good enough to be standing at your side. Every dress I tried on didn't make me feel worthy of being your wife."

Harry opened his mouth to protest but I held up my hand to stop him.

"I know you think it's stupid and that I'm more than perfect for you. I know that, Harry. I don't know what went wrong in my mind but I felt awful this morning. It took a good heart to heart with Fleur to get me over it."

"I can't believe you felt like that. You know better." Harry sighed.

"I know, sweetheart. I honestly don't know why it became an issue today. It was silly. Though we did have great fun at the muggle store."

"You bought your dress there?"

"Yeah, it was actually Luna's choice. She pointed out the dress. Somehow she has great taste for these things."

"Can you tell me about it?"

"Nope!" I yelped. "You are not to know about how it looks until the wedding. Angela has already booked you a room at St. Mungo's though." I giggled.

"Really?" Harry asked surprised.

"Yeah, she doubts if you will survive the shock."

Harry shook his head and laughed.

"So what was the second thing that made the day less fun? I hope your mom didn't cause any issues?"

"Oh, no! Mom was great. She was still a bit annoyed with the fact that we are not doing the traditional wedding but she had just as much fun as we all had today. No there is one other issue. Something the majority thinks I should discuss with you." I said as I fidgeted with my knife. "It has something to do with the dress…"

"I told you that money didn't matter." Harry immediately jumped to that conclusion. I had warned him about the prices of wedding dresses but he had just given me permission to spend what ever I liked.

"It's not the money, though the dress was insanely expensive…It's a magical dress, Harry. There are all these spells on it to enhance the dress. I could feel the magic in it flowing around it."

"But you're a witch so that's normal."

"Harry, I bought that dress in a muggle shop!"

Suddenly all fell silent.

"Oh…" Harry said as I could see him thinking. "How can that be?"

"Well, the designer is probably magical and uses minor spells so that muggles won't notice."

"Who is this designer?"

I sighed again. I prayed to Merlin that the Zabini's weren't dark.

"An Italian guy called, Edward Zabini." I whispered.

"Zabini? Edward Zabini?" Harry asked surprised.

"Yeah." I said softly and waited for his reaction.

It was quiet for a while but I could hear the thinking engines in Harry's head working over time. It was after we finished desert that he spoke up again.

"I don't know much about the Zabini's. I know that Blaise never knew or saw much of his father, though he visits his grandma regularly in Italy. I also know that they stayed neutral during the war." Harry looked up at me. "Are you worried about the dress being made by a possible dark supporter?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "The designer takes interest in the people who buy his dresses. He will be there during the first and final fitting."

Harry nodded and ran his hand through his hair.

"I'll have a look into it but as far as I can remember from reading up on pure-blood families when I started to work for the ministry the Zabini's aren't really dark. Don't worry about it. If something comes up I'll send a few female aurors along with you to the fittings."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why you'd ask?"

"Well, I thought you would insist on me buying another dress or coming along to the fitting." I sighed.

"I would prefer to come along, yes but it's supposed to be bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the wedding and with my luck I really don't want to willingly add more bad luck." Harry chuckled. "Besides, you said you loved the dress."

"I really like it." I nodded.

"Well, then. No issue there. No if the designer's name was Riddle I would have been worried."

Harry and I laughed at that idea.

#####

A few weeks later the wedding came awfully close and my first fitting appointment had arrived. Harry hadn't found anything negative about Edward Zabini or that part of Blaise's family so he felt comfortable to let me, my mom and Hermione go to the fitting by ourselves. He did remind me of the D.A. jewel and that he was only a message away.

"Can I help you, miss?" The clerk at the front of the shop asked with a bored look on her face.

"Yes, my name is Weasley, I'm here for my first fitting." I answered.

Up on hearing my name the woman paled slightly and looked very flushed.

"Of..of course, miss Weasley. Please follow me."

She led us through a small door at the end of the entrance hall into a large office. The office looked like a shop in itself. Beautiful expensive looking dresses were displayed around the room. It was clear that not all of them were from the same designer but they sure showed their worth. The hum of magic flowed around and I was sure all these dresses were made by designers with a magical background.

"Presenting Miss Weasley, Mr. Zabini!" The clerk called as she stepped aside.

I looked at the clerk in shock. She bowed and left the room. Apparently the Zabini's liked their formalities or she worshipped his clothes. Anyway, it gave a feel of grandeur being introduced like that but Hermione behind me chuckled at the silliness of it all.

"Ah yes, Miss Weasley!" A tall elegant looking man with brown hair and green eyes said as he walked up to me. I could easily see the Zabini trade-mark good looks. If Harry hadn't told me it was Blaise's uncle I would have thought him to be an older brother. "The soon to be, Mrs. Potter. The most famous witch of Britain. It's an honor." He finished with a thick Italian accents and a kiss on my hand.

"Mister Zabini?" I asked.

"Yes, my lady. The one and only! But please, it's Edward." He laughed. He introduced himself to my mother and Hermione. I notice his startle when Hermione told him her name. "It's such an honor to meet you all."

He walked with us to a fully set tea table and ordered us to sit.

"Now, first things first. I guess we have a bit of talking to do before we get started. I have to admit that I was very shocked and happily surprised to see your name on the order for the dress, miss Weasley. Even in Italy your up-coming wedding is a point of gossip. I'd never imagined I would be the one you would pick a dress from. However I'm pretty sure that finding a dress made by a magical person in a muggle shop came as a bit of a surprise to you, right?"

"Indeed." I nodded. "Also it was more of a shock because the name Zabini is linked to Slytherin house. We weren't quite sure what to make of it."

"Let me explain a bit about myself and my family." Edward said calmly. "Sadly I am not fully magical. Due to an accident when I was ten years old my magical core hasn't fully developed. I'm not a squib but nor do I have enough power to attend magical schooling. However I found out that I could do a few simple charms as I grew older. My mother taught me a lot. Unlike many pureblood families mine didn't send me away to live with muggles as an outcast. My mother arranged for tutors and later on a muggle school of my choice. Everybody in my family was really great about it." Edward said with a fond smile. "Anyway, I have always loved clothes, I'm Italian, we Italian men like to look nice. So I went into fashion design. I found out that the little magic I can do helps me creating beautiful clothing. Muggles won't notice it because it isn't strong. However the magical world doesn't see me as a magical person and therefore I'm an outcast. They won't allow me to sell my dresses there." He sighed sadly.

"I realize that with Mr. Potter's victory things might change but we will have to wait and see. Until then I'm selling to muggles " Mr. Zabini said with a found smile. "Anyway, with the recent war and my family being almost all Slytherin I would have understood that you would have cancelled the order after finding out my name."

"It was a bit of a shock." I admitted. "But I discussed it with Harry and we both couldn't remember Blaise being on the dark side. I know he is a good friend of Draco Malfoy but I also know he stayed out of the whole pure-blood thing."

"My nephew is a good boy." Mr. Zabini said. "His friends aren't the best but he knows where to draw the line. The Zabini family has always been neutral in wars. Mainly because of our business ventures but also because we just don't want to get involved. Look at my situation, with the pureblood supremacy I would have been killed or treated like a rat. My family isn't like that. However we aren't always in favor of letting muggle-borns into our world."

"Why not?" Hermione asked. She sounded slightly insulted.

"Well, muggle-borns haven't always brought the best to our world. You, Mrs. Weasley are a perfect example of a muggle-born thriving in our world but it was a muggle-born who sold many of us to the witch-hunters in Salem." Edward explained. "Muggle-borns are a great asset to our world but they can also pose a great danger. It's all about how you educate them."

Hermione couldn't fault that logic and agreed that perhaps it was good to start to look into some rules on how to deal with muggle-born witches and wizards in general. The conversation continued for a few minutes about the changes in the wizarding world while we drank our tea.

"Now, let's get you fitted." Edward Zabini said happily.

I nodded and followed his assistant to the changing room. The dress was still as beautiful as I remembered only now it fitted even more perfectly. I did notice a few changes to the dress. The swan like feeling was gone and it felt more like wearing flowing water. There were small signs of gold in the fabric that I hadn't seen before and there were symbols stitched on the top of the dress that looked shockingly like the Potter family crest.

Edward Zabini turned out to be anything but a Slytherin. He was an excited man that loved his work. He reminded me of Colin snapping his camera at Harry. Edward Zabini gushed and gooed about how good the dress looked on me. He became even more excited when I agreed to reveal his name to the press when we would release the pictures of the wedding.

"It's such an honor that you are willing to wear my dress." He sighed as we agreed on a date for the last fitting. Being a designer Mr. Zabini still managed to find a few things that could be corrected. "You are a pure-blood marrying the wizarding world's savior and you are one of the most beautiful Quidditch players out there. My resume will be complete."

Later when I told Harry about my meeting with Edward Zabini he was happy for me that this went without any drama. Planning the wedding was already taxing on my nerves and it was nice that at least something went without trouble.

###

3rd of December 2000.

"Harry, what do you think?" I asked for the thousandth time that week.

"I think I like the green and white the best." He said as he looked over my shoulder. We were finalizing decorations for the wedding. "And maybe add the gold color to the trims."

"Yeah that would look nice. But the main color will be white." I agreed as I signed off the covers for the tables. "Than the outside tables will be white with red and gold."

"Yes, that will work."

"Hello!" Somebody called from the front door.

"Fleur! Come in!" I shouted as I recognized the voice.

"Hello Ginny, Harry." She said as she stepped into the room. Her hair was covered with fresh snow and she looked like she was freezing. "I love Britain but I could do without the cold. I'm so happy you two are getting married at some warm location."

"Me too." I agreed.

"I received the invitation!" Fleur said happily. She was holding up the cards we had ordered two days ago. "They look really good."

"Oh yeah, they were being send out today." I remembered.

"I thought you were planning on a wedding in January?" Fleur asked.

"We were initially." Harry nodded as Drooble handed her a hot chocolate. "But with the changes in Ginny's game schedule and the last of the court days for the Death Eaters being also in January we decided to do it the day before Christmas Eve."

"That makes sense." Fleur nodded. "I was just at the Burrow. Your mother wasn't too happy about it. She was going on about how she had planned a big Christmas dinner and all. That was until she saw the location."

"We figured that would sway most people." I nodded.

"What were you working on when I arrived?"

"Finalizing details." I sighed as I flipped to the next page of decisions that I needed to make today.

Fleur stayed for a while, helping me and Harry through a lot of decisions. She had a lot of practical insight which we needed. We finalized the flower arrangements, entertainment, song for our first dance, which muggle traditions and which magical traditions we were going to keep and finally we approved of the cake. Mom would be making the cake together with Drooble and Kreacher.

"I never knew planning a wedding was so much work." Harry sighed as he lay down next to me that evening.

"Nor did I." I agreed. "I'm happy you took a day off to help me with everything."

"I'll take another day off next week so we can go shopping for our honeymoon and get the last things done. Arn won't need me to hold his hand every day."

"That would be nice." I agreed.

9th of December 2000.

"Where are we going on our honeymoon anyway?" I asked.

"Some place tropical." Harry gave. I was slightly annoyed that I had to find summer clothes in the middle of the winter and still not knew exactly where I was going to spend the first two weeks of my married life.

The plan was that we would spend until Christmas day at the resort and after dinner we would leave for our honeymoon. Harry had secretly arranged another location for our two weeks of rest but he refused to tell me where. "It's a surprise." He had said.

"How am I going to find clothes for a tropical location in the middle of the winter in London?" I sighed annoyed.

"Not in London." Harry said with a smirk. He was holding up an old pillow. "Take it, on Fleur and Hermione's suggestion we are going to shop on a much better location."

For a second I looked confused but I notice the smile of excitement in Harry's eyes. He had arranged something silly again.

"Let me grab my coat first." I sighed.

"You won't need it. Come on. We will need the whole day."

"Where is this thing taking us?" I asked as I grabbed one end of the pillow.

"Rodeo drive!" Harry said with a smile.

Before the shock could make me do stupid things, I felt the familiar pull from the portkey. Traveling through space by portkey wasn't my favorite way, especially when it was a long-distance portkey. So I closed my eyes and waited for us to arrived.

After almost five minutes of whirling around my feet hit solid ground. I was immediately overwhelmed my the heat and the bring sunshine. I looked around and saw that we had landed in a park between the trees.

"Perfect landing site." Hary muttered.

"Harry? Where are we?"

"Los Angeles! City of the rich and the famous. Hermione thought we would have fun shopping here and Fleur agreed that you would find all the things you needed here. So we are going to spend the day spending a lot of money."

"Harry! We can't go spending money like that." I groaned. "We have the wedding to pay for, our lives to live, we have to make sure our future kids will have money to spend, schools must be paid. We can't go around spending like that."

"We can, sweetheart and you know it" Harry smiled and kissed me. "The Potter vault alone would have seen to that our grandchildren won't have to work. You know that. The wedding won't make a dent in it and interest will make it up within two months. Besides that we still have the Black vault filled with money with the order from Sirius to spend it on silly things. On top of that we have the money the ministry has given us when last week it was decided that as a compensation Hermione, Ron and I are getting even shares in all the money from the killed Death Eaters."

"What?" I yelped.

"Yes, Kingsley and the Wizengamot in all their intelligence have decided that the millions of Galleons they recovered from the dark families should go to me, Ron and Hermione, as spoils of war. I have invested more than half back into the magical world. Like into private potion and spell research but also into the ministry. Still I have too much money left to spend. So don't worry."

"Why haven't you told me before?"

"Cause money is a non-issue. Honestly, I thought you knew. It had been in the Daily Prophet a few days ago. I thought you had read the article."

I shook my head and sighed.

"No I don't read the prophet all that much anymore. It's usually gossip they report. Witch Weekly report more facts these days."

Being with Harry caused a lot of changes in my life. The one I had the most difficulty with was the money part. Being raised in a family that never had a knut extra to spend made me very careful with money. Now, with Harry, we had so much but I never really saw it as a reality. Spending money was still something I did not do often. While planning the wedding I often looked for the cheapest option, Harry usually corrected me. He ordered me to spend.

"Come on, it's about ten in the morning here, the shops will open right now and the portkey will take us back in seven hours." Harry said as he pulled me through the park.

Muggle Rodeo drive was insane! It was so busy with cars and people that we had a hard time navigating through it all. The shops were amazing. The selection of clothes were brilliant.

In every shop we were received as tourists but as soon as Harry pulled out his creditcard they treated us like royalty. It annoyed me in the beginning but after a while I realized that they often had to deal with tourists who didn't have the money to spend but were taking up the sales-person's time. And of course we looked every bit the tourist.

We had already bought most of the needed clothes by lunch time. I was really enjoying the day. There were so many muggles that were behaving so differently than those in Britain that I learned a lot of new things about the muggle world. According to Harry we even crossed some muggle celebrities but I wouldn't have recognized them anyway.

"What are we going to do with the remainder of the seven hours?" I asked as Harry paid for lunch in a very expensive lunch room.

"Well, I know there is also a magical shopping street close by. Do you want to check that out?"

"Hmmm, didn't we do enough shopping already?" I asked.

"Well, you still need something dressier that fits in the magical world and isn't too warm. I need that as well and it can't hurt to take a look." Harry shrugged.

Again he made me wondering where we were going for our honeymoon. It was somewhere muggle but with access to the magical world. I was sure of that. And going by his words he had planned things to do as well.

Wizarding Los Angeles was even more shocking than the muggle version. Apparently a lot of witches and wizards from all over the world were trying to make a career in muggle movie making. So many internationalities could be found in this city.

I also learned that we, British were awfully old fashioned. Besides our old fashioned robes it seemed that we stayed in the middle ages with everything. All things magical seemed to be much more modern here. Also muggle inventions and magic had been incorporated much more. In this wizarding shopping street it wasn't weird to see muggle inventions like computers running on magical energy. It was a very flashy street with very modern clothing.

"I feel like I have traveled to the future." I muttered as I looked around.

"Me too." Harry sighed.

Suddenly I felt excited. I wanted to see everything! I wanted to try on those modern clothes and so much more. I don't know if Harry felt the same way but he didn't complain as I pulled him along.

We were almost too late for our portkey back. With just a few seconds to spare we managed to grab hold of the small wire that would take us back to Godric's Hollow.

As soon as we landed, an awaiting Drooble took all our bags and brought them upstairs.

"Me, will be packing most of this." He said happily.

Exhausted but still full of excitement Harry and I followed the elf up the stairs.

"Harry?" I asked when the exhaustion took over from the excitement.

"Yes, love."

"Can we go travel this summer?"

"On a holiday you mean?"

"No like, traveling around, seeing more of the world. Not staying in one place too long."

"If you want to." He nodded. "I think I can take a few weeks off."

"No I want to go traveling the whole off season. The season stops in May and we won't start training again till the end of July. I only have to attend the training weekend in the first weekend of June. So that's about five weeks."

"I'll have to discus it with Kingsley and Arn but we could at least go for a few weeks. If it's possible I'll take off more."

I nodded and kissed him.

"What has brought this idea of traveling around on? I thought you enjoyed the luxurious retreats?"

"I do, I really do but seeing such a differences between Britain and Los Angeles, it makes me wonder what else is out there. It makes me want to see the world."

"But you have ages to see the world." Harry said as he got into bed next to her.

"No, we haven't Harry. We both want so many things. Quidditch, work, a family and so much more. If we travel now than in a few years time we can focus on a family. Traveling isn't easy with little kids."

"Sweetheart, if you want to travel, we go travel. If you want kids, we have kids. Just tell me what you want first."

I laughed loudly.

"What did I tell you about you having an opinion as well!" I yelled at him before attacking him with tickling charms.

######

The third week of December brought a whole lot of chaos into our life. It was the last week before the wedding and everybody was racing around like crazy. Everybody except for Harry and me.

We had agreed that we were as prepared as we could be. Everything was arranged. Flowers, cake, dress suitcases, music, travel gear, anything Drooble and Kreacher could think of that we might need. I had been working on my vows for a while and finally found them good enough to give them to Harry.

Harry had taken a few days off before the wedding to enjoy the last few days as an engaged couple. He took me sightseeing in the UK, muggle and magical. He took me out for dinner every evening and we went to see a movie. Twice Ron and Hermione joined us on our little trips. It was a good time to reconnect as we didn't see each other as much as we wanted to. With work and all we just didn't have to the time hang out like we used to do.

An alarm at the fireplace indicated that somebody was approaching. We both looked up from our breakfast to see who would be arriving so early. After a minute Ron appeared and Hermione followed a second later.

"Good morning." I said as I turned back to breakfast. Knowing Ron would join us even if he had already eaten breakfast.

"Morning Ron, Hermione." Harry nodded and asked Drooble to bring two coffees and plates.

"We have already eaten and I take it you haven't seen the Daily Prophet yet." Hermione said as she sat down next to me.

"So eat more." Harry shrugged.

"What's with the Daily Prophet?" I asked. We had expected some reporter to catch on eventually. Even with the charmed invitation and the sworn secrecy of all involved we never expected to keep our wedding date or location a complete secret.

"Here." Hermione handed me the news paper.

I folded it open and was not very surprised by the sight of a picture of Harry and me on the front page. What did surprise me was the text below.

_According to our ever alert team of reporters we can now safely state that the wedding we all have been waiting for is approaching fast. Rumors are that Harry James Potter and Ginevra Molly Weasley will get married any day now. People close to the couple have been spotted buying suits and dresses for this event in Diagon Alley. _

_Madam Malkin says: "Yes, we had quite a few customers buying dress robes in the last few weeks. More than normal during this time."_

_Other rumors are that an event at Hogwarts will happen shortly before Christmas. The older kids there have been asked to buy dress robes and get dates for a ball. One wouldn't find it hard to connect the two events together. Mr. Potter has always indicated that Hogwarts was his first true home and where better to get married than at home. Especially since the scenery is so beautiful there._

"And?" Harry asked.

"They don't have anything. They are good on the possible date but they think it's Hogwarts."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Hermione asked.

"They don't have anything, Hermione." I sighed. "They are talking about an increase in people buying dress robes. Yes, Bill and my dad bought dress robes last week. Not for the wedding but for the gala at the ministry on New Years eve. You know, that event where you are going to show your face as well?" I mocked her. "Besides that they are claiming that there will be a ball at Hogwarts where al the top years will attend. That we also knew and McGonagall is making it a yearly event on the day before the Christmas holidays start. Besides if they were really on to something they wouldn't be talking about clothes too thick for a tropical beach."

Hermione sighed and nodded, even she couldn't argue logic.

"Will Lee report everything?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, Lee will do a live show on the vows. We have promised him that. There will be a photographer to take pictures be he is under a magical oath not to sell or give away our pictures to anyone but us. Nor can he go to the press. He will have his name published in the paper with the pictures after Luna writes the article." Harry told them.

"Luna?"

"Yeah, she asked if she could write an article about our wedding for the Quibler and the Prophet. The Prophet won't be happy about it but I honestly couldn't care about that."

"Any thing new happing with you guys?" I asked.

"Not much." Ron sighed and suddenly perked up. "Oh, I do have a piece of news, gossip actually. I heard that my dear brother has bought a ring."

"Which one?" I asked excitedly.

"Well according to my see-through brother, his twin has visited a shop run by goblins. According to that ghostly figure his twin was carrying a small box out of that shop. Further inspections showed that it contained a small round thing with a large hole in it." Ron said with a smile.

I couldn't help but squeal!

"That's so exciting!"

"I'm pretty sure George is going to drop the question on Christmas eve, either during the family dinner or shortly before." Ron said happily.

"Angelina, will be so surprised. She is always complaining about George not talking about marriage. She claims George doesn't have a romantic cell in his body." Hermione said.

"Talking about marriage, are you all ready?" Ron asked.

"Yes, Drooble has already packed everything. He kicked me out of the room twice. I wasn't allowed to help. Every thing has been arranged. All we have to do is show up."

"You are forgetting something." Hermione said seriously.

"Like what?" I immediately grabbed my checklist.

"Your hen-party." Hermione dead-panned.

"Hermione! I whined. "I told you I didn't want a Hen-party, nor does Harry wants a stag-party."

"Too bad, Fleur, Ange and I haven't been working for nothing. All you have to do is show up at my house tomorrow evening at six."

"and Harry will have to show up at Grimmauld place. Neville is looking forward to this a lot."

We both sighed and complained for another fifteen minutes but they wouldn't budge. Ron and Hermione both promised that there would be no strippers or excessive amounts of alcohol involved but they would throw a party.


End file.
